Comedic Soldiers
by Pete the Rock
Summary: A conundrum of events brings trainers of one world and a cast of outcasts in another world together in Ohfun. A mix of relationships to take place. Rated for violence and language.
1. Spread Thick, Apply Mixture

_Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, Rune Soldier Louie or Those Who Hunt Elves_

_Summary: A conundrum of events brings trainers of one world and a cast of outcasts in another world together in Ohfun. A mix of relationships to take place.

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_**Comedic Soldiers**_

_**Chapter 1: Spread Thick, Apply Mixture**__**

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A forest. Series of trees which acted like a leafy lake from overhead. No, no one was drowning. However, a series of incidents had taken place prior to the view of the forest. Inside revealed an outcome. A plethora of kids and adults were scattered everywhere inside. In one spot was a raven-haired boy in a black vest over a white shirt and jeans. A red baseball cap was resting by a tree a yard away. Near him was a ponytail redhead female in a white school uniform shirt with a blue skirt. She also appeared taller than the boy. Both lied unconscious. In another part of the woods, a blue-haired girl in a white beanie cap was down near a tree of her own. Well, she wasn't aware that she was there yet. Near her was a big muscular raven-haired man in white. He was face down. One more piece, two more victims of something bad. One was a brunette young man who wore brown vest over a green t-shirt. Near him was a blond woman in a lavender robe. There was something distinct about her and it came from the pointy ears. Was she human? In another part of the forest...yeah, it's obnoxious, be patient. Anyway, there was another raven-haired, except this was a taller version and female. She wore a red theatrical suit. Not a dress, a full long-sleeve shirt/pants outfit. She was lucky. There were two creatures by her. One was a yellow mouse with a lightning-shaped tail and the other was a blue penguin chick. One more spot before everyone got the alarm. One more spot had a blond woman in black. Black coat, black pants, black...maracas? Those were in her hair. She was resting by a tank. What in the world was a tank doing in a forest? The turret on top was spinning around...the only thing that was moving at the moment. Back at the first sight with the raven-haired boy and the redhead, the boy was starting to stir. He looked around as he was getting up, noticing the woods he seemed to entered. "How did I get here?" he groaned. He saw the redhead, realizing it was someone he wasn't knowing. "Who's she? I know it's not Mars." Mars was a name of a girl? We thought it was the name of a planet which was the fourth closest to the sun. Hearing the boy's voice, the redhead began to wake up. The girl looked directly to the boy as he snagged the cap.

'Okay, he's far too young to be Junpei,' she thought. Would that have been one of the other two men still displaced? The boy turned to the girl. It's far too early for romance. The boy dashed over to the girl to see if she needed help standing.

"Need a hand?" A nice gesture. The redhead clapped hands and was pulled onto his red sneakers.

"Thanks. It might take me awhile since Junpei had to open his big mouth and denied us a way home." A plot has sprouted. "Besides, where are we? This isn't Japan. It's also not the Elven world." Two places and none apply to their setting.

"Tell me about it. My friends and I were sucked right out of Mt. Coronet." Three places now. "I highly doubt we came alone." A fear which pondered the redhead.

"I don't think any of my military training can help us without some outside intervention." That made the boy jump a bit. She was military? That's when a whistle of wind breezed passed. But there was no movement amongst the trees. "How weird. Wind...but nothing rattling the trees." The boy had a gut thought. This was a foreign world and maybe there was some rules that were altered.

"Let me try something." That's when he bent onto a knee and began to pray. "Please. We are children lost in this forest. We seek clearance from here." A grovel. The phantom winds dissipated. The grovel worked. The redhead was mesmerized with how quick the boy worked. Suddenly...

"So there are people smart enough to surrender when they get lost in the Eternal Forest of the Elves," another female voiced before leaping down onto the grassy floor. The new female was a pointy-eared blond, more vibrant in color than the other blond, not the one by the tank. She wore a blue sleeveless fatigue and shorts, not to mention sandals. The redhead gawked at the appearance of the new blond, thinking she knew her.

"Celcia, you're okay!" she greeted with glee. The blond gulped at the name she was given...which may have been the wrong name.

"Okay, first off, I do not know you." So much for that being Celcia. "And second, my name is Celecia. I get that you may be disoriented from whatever happened to you." Thanks for clearing that up.

"I-I'm sorry. You look like Celcia. She's also an elf." That would explain the confusion. Even Celecia understood the misidentification.

"I see. Is this Celcia in the forest as well?" That may be the other pointy-eared woman with the tanned brunette.

"She may be, but I don't know for sure. By the way, I'm Ritsuko." Uh, what about the boy? Celecia also noticed the grovler, the one who sought help.

"What about you, little handsome?" That made the boy blush a little.

"It's Ash," he, Ash, identified himself. Names accounted for, Celecia was ready to bail the two out.

"Well Ritsuko and Ash, I can guide you out and get you to Ohfun. It's not too far from here."

"We appreciate it." Acknowledging the comfort of getting out of there, Celecia began to lead Ritsuko and Ash from the tree river. Meanwhile the muscled brute was coming around. He seemed greatly upset with what happened to him.

"Damn, damn, damn!" he growled. "Celcia, I told you, you had to be naked to perform that ritual!" He was upset with a technicality? He peeked around to find himself in the forest. "I don't know if I'm happy to get out of the elven world. Sucks that it's not Japan." That's when he noticed the girl lying down. This should be good. "Did Miss Airi grow down?" What he believed was this Miss Airi reverted to being a kid. Gently...Ironic that a guy with muscles would be "gentle." Gently, he removed the beanie from the kid. Quickly, he reverted his thoughts. "That's not Miss Airi. If not her, where the hell did she go?" Before he began to think more, footsteps rustled his thoughts. Out came a dark skinned redhead woman who was also muscled head to toe. She wore a ragged cape over a black midriff and loincloth over her...unmentionables. Seeing the beanie, the woman began to believe she came at the right time to rescue her "attacker."

"Looks like I timed this encounter well," she murmured. "You might want to put the hat down and stay away from the girl. It's for your own good." The man seemed a bit outraged with this accusation that he was going to rape a kid he found himself.

"Already, you're getting the wrong impression. I just found her unconscious and wanted to see if she was okay." It wasn't flying with the muscled woman. She unlatched a sword sheathed on her back and the cape.

"You think I'm that gullible to believe that you just found her? I'm a mercenary and my consciousness depicts that anyone who makes advances on defenseless women." A favorable argument. The man wasn't ready to stand down to this challenge or the crime he was being accused of.

"You don't believe that I just found her? Okay, but you're up against a six-time World Martial Arts champion. Let's see this military action take me on." The two squared off. Expect bruising. Let's leave them alone to settle while the other elf was stirring. Chances are, that's Celcia. She looked around with the eyes still opening. Seeing the forest herself, she was angry.

"Dammit, Junpei!" she roared. "You and your muscle-headed dumb mouth of yours!" Chances are, the muscle-head back with the muscled woman was Junpei. That's when she noticed the tanned man in front of her. Already, she knew this wasn't Junpei. "Who's he?" She came over and checked the brunette. Her arm was extended and felt a presence there. "I'm not sure I can carry him anywhere." That's when she spotted a red/white marble and picked it up. "Wonder what this is?" Pressing the small button, the marble grew to a ball. Startled, she accidentally pressed it again. The ball opened and released something. It was an adorable round pink creature which had a tiny ponytail and over-sized red pants. Celcia was dumbfounded with what came out of something so small. The creature spotted the out brunette, panicked.

("Brock?") it shouted to try and wake the young man up. ("Brock, get up!") The brunette began to stir. His eyes were squinted so you couldn't really tell what colors they were. He glared at the little pink thing.

"Happiny?" he blankly groaned. "You let you out of your Pokéball?" That's what it came out of?

"I let it out," Celcia confessed. "I saw that little marble and got curious-" Before she could finish, Brock snagged her hands and began to...

"Don't mention it, my living angel!" He was in a swooning act. Brock thought she was someone to admire. "The fact that I was awaken by you proves that the heavens have guided you to me-OW!" Now what? How about a purple frog jabbing glowing fingers to Brock's side. Immediately, Brock fell pray to the frog and dragged the stunned man away, leaving Happiny with Celcia.

"Okay, that was awkward." That's when more footsteps echoed. Out came a brunette female. She was shorter than Celcia and not as rounded in the mid-section. She wore a tangerine ribbon in her hair and a blue vest over a lavender tank top and skirt. She also wore orange stockings. Seeing Celcia, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Celecia, you okay?" she incorrectly wondered. That made Celcia balk at the wrong name given to her.

"Who's Celecia?" Now it was the brunette who was befuddled. Ritsuko mistaken Celecia for Celcia and now this.

"Are you her sister?" It's getting ridiculous.

"Of course not. I don't know who this Celecia is?" It had to dawn on the new brunette that she _wasn't_ Celecia or any relation.

"Sorry. You and she look rather alike. The name's Merrill." She had her hand out for a shake. Hearing the admission of the mix-up, Celcia understood.

"Celcia." The name had Merrill figuring how close both names were to each other.

"That clears everything. Anyway, was there someone else here a moment ago?" Celcia gazed back at where the frog took Brock away.

"Nothing to worry about." Merrill took her advice. Meantime, the last blond was stirring. She grasped her head in a headache. Was she injured somehow?

"What a ride," she muttered. "Pales all those roller coasters." She peered around, finding herself lost in the woods. "How did I wind up out here in the forest? I remember the kids fighting to stop Cyrus..." Then there was a meow. The blond looked around, not seeing a cat anywhere. Odd. Then another meow. It was sounding from behind her. She looked to find a tank. She leaped back, fearing the turret was loaded. It was still meowing. That's really odd. "Is there a cat in the barrel?" The tank meowed more, trying to be friendly with the blond. Something didn't make sense. Was there a cat in the tank? Or was the tank a cat? Something clicked within her. "I see. You're a spirit encased in the tank." Another meow, but it was a happier meow. A cat spirit in a tank? Poltergeist, anyone? The blond was amused that the tank was the cat. Or was it the cat was the tank? That's when...you guessed it...

"Now, hold on a minute!" a male shouted. Ha! You thought it was another female. Well, out of the shrubs, a blue-haired man in a red shoulder guard and green wool t-shirt came out. He was built just like the one in white battling the dark skinned woman. This alarmed the blond. "Are you saying that this steel chariot has a cat spirit inside?" That's what she's assuming.

"It's my presumption. I, for one, cannot explain all the details at this point in time. After all, I have just awaken since Cyrus of Team Galactic used the legendary Pokémon and the Lake Trio to open a portal in which we were all absorbed in." That told a lot. The man and the tank were greatly confused at all the information she gave out.

"Could you slow down a notch? I'm barely getting some of what you're saying but Pokémon, Lake Trio, Team Galactic...don't get me wrong but I'm not sure what you're talking about and who you are." Can't blame him...or the tank who meowed in agreement. The blond quickly realized her error.

"My apologies. I'm Pokémon Champion, Cynthia. My world is where creatures known as Pokémon reside with humans." It started to clue in on the blue-haired man a chunk.

"Nice to meet you, Cynthia. I'm Louie, an adventurer." Adventurer? Classify. "Anyway, my friends and I saw the formation of clouds overhead while we ran a delivery to the Elven Village. A few unusual bolts of lightning later, Melissa, Merrill, Jeanie, Celecia and I split to see what was going on. At least there wasn't a fire." Okay, so that's explaining how Louie and everyone else reached the kids so fast. It didn't settle well with Cynthia. She was worried.

"I sure hope your friends are easy on Ash and his friends." The tank also became worried. It's not real possible for an inorganic item like a tank to worry about anything but keep in mind about the cat spirit inside. Louie stroked the side of the tank. Remember, cat spirit.

"You have friends here, too?" Did Louie understand the spirit? So, how were they going to get the tank out of these woods. One more piece had the penguin chick coming alert. The chick peeked around, noticing the last woman that hasn't been mentioned too much...then the mouse. It ran over to the mouse.

("Pikachu, wake up!") the chick beaked. The mouse, Pikachu, heard the call of the bird and turned to it.

("You okay, Piplup?") it squeaked. Piplup lightly cawed in relief. Pikachu began to peer around, realizing that he, Piplup and the woman were somewhere not normally known to them. ("Did Cyrus knock us out of Mt. Coronet?") Yes, Pikachu, Cyrus did. That's when they took stock of the woman. Dare they wake her up? They approached her but she began to come around on her own. It took her a minute to get her look and notice the location that they were in.

"So much for my return trip to Hollywood," she mulled. "Junpei, you had to mess up again." Again? Apparently, Junpei seemed to be none too bright for him to blow moments of returning home.

("Hollywood?") The woman heard Pikachu's squeaking to notice. It's a good chance that neither Pikachu or Piplup knew about Hollywood.

"You're rather unusual to be mere woodland creatures. And normally, penguins live in cold places." While she had a point, it wasn't the issue in the moment. That's when it dawned on the worried face of Piplup. "I get it. You're owned by someone who's probably somewhere in this wooded area." Where did she establish that? Even Pikachu was shocked. Suddenly, more rustling. The woman, Pikachu and Piplup heard it. "Who's there?" Pikachu and Piplup jumped in front, ready to protect the Hollywood girl. That's when a blond in a green/white robe entered. She wore a mushroom hat and held a staff.

"I'm sorry for startling you and these creatures," she apologized. The woman had taken stock of the outfit the blond wore.

"A high priestess, I assume?" The blond was stunned. She figured out right away what she was by the clothing.

"Y-Yes, I am. I'm Melissa, a priestess under the watchful eye of Mylee, God of Battle." Introductions were quick. "Was the robe a dead giveaway?" The raven-haired woman nodded, saying it was pretty obvious.

"I played a couple roles back home so I know what each costume presents." Roles? Now that Hollywood bit made sense. She's an actress. "By the way, the name's Airi." The two were quick to being friends. "Actually, I woke up to these two who've lost their owners. I have a pretty good hunch that they're in this forest as well." Either she was highly intelligent or she went to the writer's trailer and copied the cliff notes to make us feel like we need to lock our homes everyday to prevent more incidents like that.

"Nothing appears to pass you without knowing what it is, right?" Airi huffed a chuckle. "Well, let's get out of this forest and see if we can find the owners." Good plan. The four began to walk out but Pikachu wanted to see what it was like on Melissa's head so it leaped onto it. Airi chose to pick Piplup and carry it out. Back with the muscle-heads and the down girl, the fight was already escalating. The two were holding each other back on the shoulders. Neither backed down and already there was bruising and blood spilled.

"For someone who claims to be a six-time champion, you're not doing half bad," she huffed. "Not even Louie could last this long without more wounds."

"Thanks, I guess," he praised. "You're the first real fighter to give me a run for my gold, let alone a woman." Unsure if that was an insult to match the compliment, the woman kept her grip firm when...

"What's going on?" the girl groaned, waking up from her time out. The man took his eyes off the woman. Bad move. The woman tossed the man into a tree, head first. Ouch! He was out, once more. Finally, the woman, relieved that her fight was finished, turned to the girl and picked up the beanie.

"Sorry about that," she murmured. "Stopped a muscled guy from possibly raping you." The girl wasn't sure if she wanted to believe her. Having her headgear back, she sighed.

"I appreciate it. The name's Dawn." She and the woman shook hands. At least she befriended a kid.

"It's Jeanie. My comrades were coming from the village inside this forest when we saw unusual weather and investigated it by spreading out." Dawn was relieved to know that she was being protected.

"Have you seen Ash, Brock or maybe Piplup?" Not Pikachu? Jeanie looked but saw nothing.

"I'm sure the rest are searching." Hoping, Dawn tried to remain positive. Jeanie opted to lead Dawn out of the woods. There's a big reunion going to happen...but how can Brock and Junpei get out after their knockouts? Stay tuned...

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TO BE CONTINUED...


	2. Let the Ohfun Start

_Chapter 2: Let the Ohfun Start

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Ash was with Ritsuko and Celecia, Cynthia was with Louie and a tank that meowed like a cat, Pikachu and Piplup were with Airi and Melissa, Dawn was with Jeanie and Celcia tagged along with Merrill, all vying to escape the Elven forest. Brock and that other man? Out. Strange occurrences were factors in these meetings. Somehow, the characters from their worlds united, although away from each other. As they journeyed their way through the forest, Airi began to feel something off. Was it her? The creatures? "Are you sure this is the way out of these woods?" she questioned. Melissa stopped and turned to the actress, a wonder that her directions were being criticized.

"Deep inside the Elven Forest is the village they reside in," she informed. "The elves over there are not simple to fool and can become hostile in the wink of an eye. It would be best if we distance ourselves from there and avoid conflict." Airi was starting to understand Melissa's concern...but not the way Melissa would question.

"I hope Junpei didn't wind up there. If so, I would worry more about the elves than him." That heightened Melissa's concern.

"How so?" Pikachu and Piplup were curious with what Airi had to offer.

"Junpei, Ri-chan and I were in a world where elves lived alongside humans in an effort to return to our home world. When our elven companion, Celcia, failed to return us home, a portion of spell fragments were scattered all across the land, forcing us to unclothe every female elf to gather each fragment. Afterward, Celcia was trying the spell when something had gone awry. I believed that Junpei broke Celcia's concentration which possibly caused us to be transported over to here." So she became worried due to the exploits back in the world she and her friends came from. It made Melissa want to double back and protect the elves. Pikachu thought Ash could be there and be blamed for allowing Junpei to strip the ladies of what little garb they're clothed.

("I can't imagine Ash being killed by a misunderstanding,") it squeaked in some fear. Piplup saw its friend's concern, hoping that worst doesn't occur. Same with Airi.

"No, I know that elves can develop immediate friendships with young children." Some promise.

"If anything, Miss Airi," Melissa started an offer. "My champion will see that any human is cleared from wrongful misconduct that may be indicted." Not much of a choice, Airi decided to go with Melissa's promise.

"I'll hold you to your word." They continued onward. Meanwhile, Ash, Ritsuko and Celecia had gone ahead, hopefully getting to the end of the forest.

"We should be out of this forest soon," Celecia spoke. Ritsuko was happy to be out of the forest but Ash continued to look back at the path they traversed. He was worried about his friends that were still in there. Ritsuko playfully slapped Ash back to reality on the head.

"Cheer up!" she chirped. "I'm sure Celecia's friends are helping ours out." True, but Ash wasn't too comfortable with a simple promise.

"I know that," he muttered. "I'm just wondering why Cyrus would go to all these lengths, hiring Pokémon Hunter J to capture the Lake Trio, taking the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs, using the Red Chain to capture Dialga and Palkia..." A lot had occurred with Ash that he seemed in mental frustration. Celecia seemed rather sympathetic of the young man.

"It would seem as though you were trying to prevent a lot before you wound up coming here," she studied. Ash fluffed a nod. Then there was more rustling, forcing all three to stop. Was it friends? Would friends be hideous creatures? Ash and the girls were surrounded by... "Ogres!" Celecia started to panic. Well, when facing something with a giant club like that, less a group, it would be best to have a fresh pair of pants nearby...or in Ritsuko's case, a black 9-mm Beretta handgun. The ogres lunged at the trio just as Ritsuko whipped the handgun from her back, holstered under the linen of her skirt. BANG! BANG! BANG! Ritsuko squeezed three times, capping two in the head and one in the chest. All three wounds were fatal as each hit the ground and remained stiff. More ogres raced forward. This was Ash's time to shine as he clutched three Pokéballs.

"Staraptor, Buizel, Monferno," he called upon. "I choose you!" He threw all three balls which opened up and let out three creatures. One was an orange-red monkey with a flame on its tail. The second was an orange weasel with a flotation ring around the neck. The last was a giant black bird with a wicked hairstyle...or feather-style? The ogres didn't care who they were. They charged in. Ritsuko was ready with her gun, just in case. "Buizel, Sonic Boom!" The weasel swung its tail pretty swift and hard, creating a blade of air, smashing into the ogres. They fell but slowly and sure rose back to their feet. "Monferno, use Dig!" The monkey dove and burrowed its way under the surface. The ogres resumed their charge, forgetting the monkey's underground surprise. Monferno rose out and bashed the ogres into the sky, knocked out. Here came more. "Staraptor, Aerial Ace!" The bird flipped in the air before striking a beeline charge through the ogres. Whatever Ash had up his arsenal, it was working. It made Celecia astonished.

'Ash wields a confidence that I've seen before with Louie,' she pondered. 'Could he be Louie in his world that can remain composed like he was? Remain in focus despite overwhelming odds?' More ogres came to the defense of the fallen members. Ritsuko gritted before she reached for something.

"I hope he's here as well," she prepped as she pulled out...cat food? You're facing a horde of ogres and you resort to cat food? She opened the tiny tin can. The tank, with Louie and Cynthia, scented the cat food. Being a cat spirit, cat food was always something to enjoy. It wildly meowed as Cynthia poked her head from inside the tank.

"You smell something good?" she asked. It happily roared in confirmation. Louie, who sat on top of the tank, was astounded with the communication between her and the spirit.

"How are you able to understand something that just meows?" he questioned. Her answer had to be good.

"I've lived with many creatures to understand them. In the meantime, someone has food laid out for this cat." You can bet Louie was stumped and with another question of his own.

"How do you feed a cat spirit when it's encased in a steel chariot like this?" Yeah, someone help him with that.

"We'll find out when he takes us to it's owner. Hang on!" Louie jumped on top of the tank while Cynthia stayed inside. That's when the tank rolled out...going faster than what a tank should go. "Slow down!" Poor Louie should have jumped inside. He's riding the turret's barrel. Hopefully, he hangs on for the whole ride. The tank's rolling began to rattle the earth, even getting Ritsuko's attention. She found the tank...and was ecstatic. Celecia and Ash turned and saw the tank too. They were not so hyped about the discovery of it.

"Is that a military tank barreling towards us?" Ash hiccuped. Ritsuko knew.

"Mike!" she cheered. Mike! She pronounced it as Me-Kay, not like mic. Louie turned and found Celecia..and the ogres. He knew she was in trouble and leaped onto the cannon, riding it like a surfboard. Hearing the brakes, Louie realized that the tank, Mike, was stopping so he braced a leap. Mike stopped but Louie flew just as one was coming at Celecia. Louie cocked his arm back. He can't afford to miss and risk serious injury.

"Not so fast, ugly!" he roared out. "Louie Punch!" He fired his arm forward. KABOOM! The punch made contact and...wow! The punch spun the ogre's head and spun it multiple times around, literally. That had to kill the ogre but that wasn't all. That shot shot the ogre into the others, knocking and scattering them like bowling pins. Strike! Ash and Ritsuko were impressed with that explosion of power and momentum.

"That...was awesome," he shuttered. When Louie turned to the other ogres, those fiends turned tail. They didn't want any part of Louie. Celecia was impressed that Louie came to their rescue.

"Louie!" she cried as she leaped into his arms. "Thank you!" Mike rolled over to meet up with Ritsuko and meowed.

"That was awesome, Mike," Ritsuko praised. Mike meowed, proud of his work of rescuing her and her new friends. That's when the hatch opened, Cynthia popping out. Ritsuko was shocked. Someone rode inside the tank.

"Well, that was a twist I didn't see coming," she sneered. "A military tank with Mike as it's name?" Ash was happy to see Cynthia.

"Cynthia, you're okay!" he proudly greeted. Cynthia leaped down from Mike and confronted Ash, passing a still stunned Ritsuko.

"Grandma wouldn't want me to go at this age, would she?" That told Ash that this was only the start. Ritsuko gawked at how casual Ash and Cynthia were. Not so much Louie.

"Well, it's starting to make some sense," he sneered. "I could be wrong but I think I see it as the master and the apprentice." Celecia wondered if Louie knew something that she didn't and now this news.

"Seems as though you're not the only apprentice at work," she teased. That made Louie scratch his head in embarrassment. That's when Ritsuko stepped up.

"Excuse me, Miss Cynthia," she politely spoke up. "But have you seen anyone else? Maybe a dark skin with muscles or an elf in a lavender robe?" At least she was descriptive. Cynthia shook her head. Nope, she didn't see anyone else. Ash had a plan and turned to his bird.

"Staraptor, search the forest for anyone still trapped," he ordered. Staraptor agreed and flapped to the sky. Louie had to question Ash's option to go to the air.

"Are you sure your bird can find the rest?" he wondered. He doubted Ash's method of locating the others. Ash stood confident that their friends were going to be found.

"24 out of 25 times, my flying Pokémon come through." People would gloat with the nine out of ten but Ash rose the bar a bit. Staraptor had the bird's eye view of the forest, no pun intended. That's when it spotted Dawn and Jeanie and fluttered down. The caws alerted the girls, Jeanie reaching back for a sword. Dawn knew that it was Ash's bird.

"Wait, Jeanie!" she snapped a quick yelp. Staraptor landed a yard where Dawn approached. "Staraptor, if you're here, then Ash is here too?" Staraptor cawed a yes. Dawn sighed in relief. Jeanie studied where the bird came from.

"That Staraptor, whatever that is, came from the outer edge of the forest," she surveyed. "Either we're close by or that bird is fast in the air." To Dawn, the latter sounded like the others weren't too far off. Same with the last guy who had to be named Junpei. He was crawling back to the ladies.

"Wait up!" he groaned as his bruised face and body struggled to catch up to the women. "You can't just leave me behind like that. You and me...rematch!" He's challenging Jeanie after he lost to her?

"There's no rest for you, is there predator?" She's not letting up the fact that she caught Junpei's approach on an unconscious Dawn.

"I told you, I'm not a rapist!"...And yet Junpei was left for a defensive tussle.

"Really? Those big muscles and you didn't want to hurt the kid? You could've fooled me." Dawn was oblivious to the danger Jeanie seemed to bail her out of.

"Wait a second," Dawn jumped. "Is this true, sir? You wanted to check on my health?" It was a bleak piece of hope for Junpei and he didn't want to lose it.

"That's exactly what I was doing!" he roared. "Look, maybe the fact that my actions to collect spell fragments to return to Japan was a bit extreme but I did it to return my comrades home. I know there was curry waiting back home for me!" Curry? Where did that shoot from? It still didn't settle for Jeanie.

"Then why is it that I smell fabric destruction in your soul, that will to strip anyone within the mile radius?" she pondered. It would seem that Jeanie scented through Junpei's claims. Before he could answer...

"Wait for me..." sounded...Brock? Wasn't he suppose to be with Merrill and Celcia? Dawn was a bit stunned with Brock showing up.

"So, you're here, too, Brock?" Dawn gulped. "What happened to you?" Brock shuttered a laugh, embarrassed with his act on Celcia...and the breakup by the frog who stood a foot behind. Jeanie came over and picked the scrawny youngster up and onto his feet.

"Walk straight, Brock," she ordered. On his legs again, Brock regained his composure. Jeanie slapped him in the back to get him moving, but nearly launched him into Dawn. That's when a rustling in the bushes rattled everyone's attention. Out popped Melissa and Airi, as well as Pikachu and...

"Piplup!" Dawn cheered to her delight. She dashed over and plucked the penguin from Melissa's hands. She embraced Piplup in a tight hug. It might have been Jeanie's words about her almost being raped. "Thank you for returning Piplup to me." Melissa was a bit bashful with the praise.

"Think nothing of it," she shyly accepted. That's when Airi spotted Junpei, not getting help from Jeanie like she helped lift Brock.

"So, the incident back in the Elven world wasn't enough of your shenanigans, Junpei?" she mocked. Melissa studied the still straining backside of Brock versus the still down Junpei. Already, she glared at Jeanie.

"Why is that man allowed to stand and the other one kept to the grass?" she argued. Jeanie remained unwavering.

"I caught that man holding this girl's hat, suspecting that he was going to rape her," she explained by pointing to Junpei. Now, for Brock. "That came crawling in agony like he was paralyzed. He still looks a bit shaky." Wonder why?

"Croagunk's Poison Jab does that to Brock whenever he tries to have a girlfriend," Dawn continued. "I wonder who he was trying his luck on this time?" Was no one aware of Celcia? Brock offered his confession.

"A blond in lavender," he weakly muttered. That sounded like Celcia. Dawn realized that it wasn't someone she knew.

"Can't be Cynthia. She's blond, but in black."

"It's not Celecia," Jeanie denied another entry. "She and Melissa are blonds, but Celecia's in blue and that's Melissa there." Airi didn't need a couple of seconds to think.

"It's Miss Celcia," she answered. Everyone turned to Airi, who happened to know Brock's description. Junpei rose to his feet and patted Brock on the back.

"Dude, you've got some guts asking the senior elf to be your girlfriend," he sneered. "Tell you what, once she gets us back to Japan, I'll try to find you and get you two together." Someone was optimistic about a pairing such as that. Airi...not so much.

"You know how virtually impossible it is, right?" Ouch...turned down on that fact. "I know the situation better than you realize. We're all from different worlds somehow linked together in an awkward conundrum." As much as Dawn wanted to listen to Airi's word, there were more pressing matters to attend.

"Can we save the discussion until we get back with the rest?" she suggested a reunion. "I bet Pikachu's dying to get back to Ash's side." Pikachu nodded to Dawn's request. That got Melissa to gaze at the Pikachu that rode on her shoulder.

"That's what you are?" she gulped. "A Pikachu?"

("That's what I am,") Pikachu replied. Melissa smiled, feeling better and less confused.

"Dawn's right," Brock agreed. "It's better if we regroup with the rest." No one argued the decision. Brock acknowledged the silence. "Okay. Staraptor, lead us back to Ash." Staraptor began to fly back where it came, the group following. Before too long, the groups were together, thanking one another for clear heads and happy endings. Wait a minute...this is only the beginning. That's when Ritsuko realized that someone's missing from the bands. Celcia and Merrill.

"Did anyone come across Miss Celcia?" she wondered. Brock did but that wasn't going to matter.

"Hey!" Merrill shouted. Everyone turned to see Celcia and Merrill making it to the festivities. It was a good moment for all...except for Junpei. WHAM! Celcia thwacked Jjunpei with a hook to the cheek. Man, Junpei's getting no love. First, he gets a KO from Jeanie, accused of attempted rape, forced to crawl back to the rest and now this. That's when elves met.

"So, you must be Celcia," Celecia guessed. Both elves seemed to understand each other and smiled.

"And you must be Celecia," Celcia returned. Seeing both elves, everyone awed at how much they looked alike.

"Are you sure there's nothing between those two?" Ash wondered. "I want to believe they're sisters." Airi would agree.

"Well, at least we'll know there's one elf to turn to in case we head inside the forest again," she reminded. Everyone would say similar items but now was the moment. Merrill and Dawn turned to a village surrounded by a wall circling it.

"So, that's Ohfun," Dawn guessed. That would be the place. Louie stood forward, ready to head to their next location.

"Well, everyone," he spoke up. "Let's head into town." Leading, Louie guided the huge cast. Ash, Dawn, Brock, Pikachu, Piplup, Junpei, Ritsuko, Airi, Celcia, Mike, Melissa, Merrill and Jeanie with Louie were about to embark on a big adventure...AW, WHO ARE WE KIDDING? It's gonna be a mess of misadventures with one question in mind: How were they going to get home?

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED... (I might go into a bit of hiding with all the publicity on Facebook, YouTube and other sites. Being an Internet Sensation is exhausting.)


	3. Three Groups, One House?

_Chapter 3: Three Groups, One House?

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_

It was quite a find for Louie and his harem of Melissa, Merrill, Celecia and Jeanie. Celecia had returned to the village while the rest escorted Ash, Dawn, Brock, Cynthia, Pikachu, Piplup, Junpei, Ritsuko, Airi, Celcia and Mike far from the Elven Forest. Everyone was happy to be out of any danger. "Do you know how much bull you're trying to get off?" Junpei growled. Well...almost everyone.

"You're the one who ruined the incantation!" Celcia barked back. Boy, those two sure were in each one's throats.

"Me? The spell would've worked if you had taken that ragged robe off!"

"Give me one solid reason why I was the one who needed to be unclothed?"

"The spell, you idiot!"

"Oh sure! Blame me for not showing any skin while we risked our behinds fetching the spell fragments when the spell failed the first time I tried to return you back home!" Louie and Melissa lofted a frustrating sigh. Were they arguing this long without resolve?

"Kinda reminds us of...us, doesn't it?" Louie whispered to the priestess. They argued among themselves, too?

"I don't wanna bring that up," she groaned. She's already tired of the argument. She wasn't the only one. Mike meowed, glum with this pointless argument. Ash was so impatient with how long the verbal assault was lasting and had a solution.

"Pikachu, would you mind?" he requested. Pikachu knew what Ash wanted. It leaped up and fired electricity from the little cheeks, zapping Junpei and Celcia. The sudden shock stopped the arguing so there's some success. Both collapsed in pain and stun.

"Was it really necessary for your mouse to electrocute the two, only to stop their bickering?" Jeanie questioned. Ash looked back at the downed two, positive that it was the only option.

"Worked for me in the past." Weren't there any other options that he could've tried? They came close to the gates of Ohfun.

"This is where you guys came from?" Dawn excitedly chirped.

"That's right," Merrill answered. "You can find supplies for whatever you need here, though it might be difficult for your steel chariot to get the right oil to make sure it keeps moving." Despite that piece of bad news, Mike wasn't bothered. Jeanie was.

"I doubt they have a place big enough to disguise the steel chariot," she pointed out. Even Ritsuko would agree.

"I think we should park it by the forest and throw the camouflage blanket over Mike," she optioned. The tank had something for the matter. With that matter settled, Ritsuko rode Mike to the side and prepped the cloak. That's when Ash remembered that someone may be in trouble should he or she walk toward the town.

"I don't think Celcia can get through the village," he realized. Right, Celcia's an elf. If found out, consequences would mount. However, Airi scoffed the problem. All turned to the actress, wondering what her plan was.

"Time for a little makeup," she smiled. Celcia, who was back with the rest of the awakened as well as Junpei, overheard the plotting of Airi. She wanted to question her idea.

"If you think your makeup kit's gonna turn me into a human, you're crazy," she protested. Crazy but would it work regardless? Louie had an idea of his own in case Airi's plan failed.

"Well, I found a spell in my booklet that can reduce the size of anything it's concentrated on,"he suggested. That was a long shot according to Melissa's groan. Maybe the kit was a better choice. Celcia gambled on Louie's idea.

"I'll let you try first." Louie, happy to be chosen for this assignment, pulled out a wand which looked like a miniature club. He began to mumble the words with the wand almost touching Celcia's ear. The wand started to glow and Celcia's ear started...to shrink. It's working. When the glow stopped, Celcia tried to feel her ear...or where it went. She felt the point of her ear, which was about half the original size, now neatly covered by her hair. "It's there but it's so small." Was it a problem? To Louie, nope.

"Alright, now for the other ear." But as Louie started to come around, the other ear was gone...or at least shrunk. "Never mind." That meant that she was set. The group entered the town, full of people socializing and doing what appeared to be shopping. Seeing the newcomers, the people were curious. Who were these people to simply walk into Ohfun?

"Louie!" a female shouted. Louie turned to the sound, viewing a grown young redhead female in a purple blouse, bleached yellow skirt...and glasses. She ran to and stopped by the group. "What happened? There was that freak storm and-" Louie was going to explain but...Brock's back to his old tricks.

"There's nothing but the burning passion of beauty and intelligence to come at us after our whirlwind voyage," he cooed, trying once again to get a girl. The female was perplexed with this new man. "Maybe I need to restore the 'Fun' in Ohfun for you." Someone knock him off. Out came Croagunk as it did Poison Jab onto the poor soul that was Brock. Paralyzed, Brock crumbled before being dragged out of the scene. Celcia shook her head, a repeat performance right in front of her. Melissa agreed with her own words.

"He is much worse than Louie," she murmured. Dawn could only picture how Brock was worse than Louie. He had three girls wandering around him, Junpei had three girls around him and Brock only had her and Cynthia around.

"Ila, everything's okay," he reassured. "Just found these guys in the forest. Let's head into the pub and tell you what happened." The pub? That meant alcohol and doubt Ash and Dawn would be accepted.

"Hold on," Dawn spoke up. "Ash, Brock, Ritsuko and I aren't old enough to drink!" Four minors? Were Brock, Junpei, Airi, Celcia and Cynthia?

"No problem," Merrill shrugged off. "They also have something for the younger folk. Come on." Going by her trust, the group entered the pub. Waiting for them was a meal fit for a small army with chicken, potatoes, peas, beans, carrots, any veggie to come across. This would mean that they wanted to be healthy...or there's not much meat available. "So anyway, trainers. I'd like to hear how you bunch came together." Merrill was interested with how Ash, Dawn, Brock and Cynthia united.

"I, too, would like to know of your union," Ila agreed. Swallowing some corn, Ash decided to go first.

"Well, I could say that I came to the Sinnoh Region to compete in their league after I wrapped up the Battle Frontier in my home region of Kanto," he began. "But let's cut to the chase. When Dawn, Brock and I heard about the missing Adamant and Lustrous orbs, we heard that Team Galactic was involved. They hired Pokémon Hunter J to capture the Lake Trio: Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie and also created something called a Red Chain to ensnare the Pokémon of Space and Time: Palkia and Dialga. Thanks to Mr. Looker, Cynthia provided us a ride to Mt. Coronet, where Spear Pillar was suppose to be. However, the Lake Trio brought us to them using Teleport."

"Using the Red Chain to control the Lake Trio and the legendary Pokémon, their leader, Cyrus, had them open up a vortex in his pursuit of a new galaxy, one free of emotions in which he says polluted this world," Cynthia continued. "However, something occurred and we were all drawn into the vortex. We don't know if Cyrus is here, but he may be the key in order for us to return back home." The rest were awe-driven. What man would pursue a place that he'd use man-made materials to get his way? A new galaxy would be impossible to create by man alone.

"Something tells me this Cyrus is a few watts short of a florescent light bulb," Junpei theorized. "If he did make it to a new galaxy, he'd be dead before he could come close to starting." Right, because there's no air in space.

"Agreed," Melissa replied. "To achieve a new world, one would discard all the beliefs of limits to what man is allowed to accomplish before setting out. Even then, attempting to create something much larger than man itself is suicide." To say the least. No one disagreed with the two...even Jeanie.

"However, if something did go wrong, here's probably here," she pondered. A scary thought. The concept of facing someone like Cyrus in a dark corner may be the last thing on their minds.

"I'd rather think about it when we come across that bridge," Ash wanted to put aside. "Right now, I'd like to hear how Ritsuko was hooked up with her group."

"Of course," Ritsuko agreed when she stopped sipping on some orange juice. "But I should hand the speaking to Miss Airi since she's got a photographic memory." Meaning that she's seen and filed it in somewhere to bring out when the time came. Perfect for criminal trials.

"If you insist, Ri-chan," Airi accepted, placing her goblet of wine down. "You see, I was on the set in Japan for an upcoming sci-fi comedy in which I was a lone female samurai who came across a time traveler from the future when someone alerted me to a runaway tank." Mike? "This was before Mike possessed it." Never mind. "That's when Ri-chan came onto the set, trying to rundown the T-74 model. I hopped on, hoping to turn off the engine..." And stop the tank, right? How did Celcia and Junpei get involved then?

"However, the key snapped in half and there wasn't enough for Miss Airi to turn it off." That would explain a lot. "You see, the tank was from my dad's base about a couple of miles from the movie set. One problem was that the drive shaft had malfunctioned and wouldn't stop by slamming on the brakes which she tried. We barreled into the city in which the tank crashed into a gym. There, the tank got hung up and Junpei offered his aid to stop it for good." So a mechanical fault brought the three humans together...but then Celcia?

"It was then that I got to meet Miss Airi, who by the way looked lovelier without all that makeup," Junpei continued. "I enjoyed every film she was in, including one the critics were not too pleased for. Ritsuko managed to fix that drive thingy when all of a sudden, we were surrounded by some force...and ended up in the elven world. However, it turned out that by being accidentally transported there was a good thing for Celcia." A good thing? Was Celcia in trouble?

"You see, I was in a feud with another elf over a power struggle," she jumped in. "However, thanks to the three and their tank, they saved me and I promised to send them home...HOWEVER!" Why was she glaring at...oh...that. "Someone chose to play the part of interruption during my chance and ended up breaking the incantation!" Junpei wasn't appreciating the argument Celcia brought.

"If I remember correctly, you were suppose to have the translation of the book imprinted on your bare skin! Meaning that you were suppose to be stripped down for those prints to be shown and the spell to work!"

"Oh, so it's my fault the fragments went everywhere?" This wasn't going anywhere and Cynthia and Louie interacted. Cynthia pulled on Celcia's shoulder while Louie restrained Junpei.

"This isn't a time to battle, nor the place!" Cynthia tried to ease.

"Yeah, let's retain cooler heads!" Louie roared. Both hotheads began to calm down...but darted attention from each.

"The way they argue, it makes mine with Misty seem friendly," Ash weighed. "Is that all or is there more?" From the earlier chapters, probably more.

"Well, when the book shattered, we had to find the five fragments which were tattooed on a few elves," Airi resumed. "Afterwards, Miss Celcia tried once more on the spell...and once again..." A failure. No wonder Junpei was getting so much heat from it. "And now here we are, teamed up with such young trainers and adventurers." Even Dawn had felt sorry for the ladies caught in the bad rap from Junpei.

"I bet if it was Ash or Brock or even Louie there instead of Junpei, you'd all be happy with your return home," she sympathized. That got under Junpei's skin because he steamed at Dawn's reply.

"I'd like to see how long you last in that world, sunshine!" he snapped.

"A heck of a lot longer and easier than the way you behave there!" First, Celcia and now, Dawn? Junpei can't get any respect from someone shorter than him.

"Can't we hold the arguing until we hear about how they came together?" Ritsuko begged while referring to Louie and his gang. All calmed down to allow Melissa to take the floor.

"Thank you, Ritsuko," she praised. "You see, ours is a little...wild to say. I am a high-priestess as Airi had mentioned but I'm an adventurer alongside Merrill, a thief and Jeanie, a mercenary. We never had a problem until we came across a door only responding to a magician. Coincidentally, it was also around the same time as the sacred ritual in which I would be assigned a champion. Suddenly, Louie showed up, interrupting the ritual. I was left no choice because Mylee assigned him. Since he's a magician, I felt obligated to have him be part of the adventuring group...even though it's against my will." Ouch, talk about being dealt a bad hand, nothing good came out...right?

"Don't be so hard on the subject, Melissa," Louie offer a positive swing. "There have been some great times together." That made a bad impression on Merrill.

"Excuse me, but I have more of a difficult time accepting you as a member of the team than how you perform on the field," she grumbled. Somehow, she wasn't alone.

"Hey, I had a hard time believing Louie was a magician the way he helped me, Ritsuko and Celecia with those ogres," Ash spoke. The way he used his brute strength, no wonder. "But...right now, all we can do is relax and enjoy the view while we wait for some sort of way to get back to our homes." Ash had a point. This was beyond their controls and this wasn't going to be solved anytime quickly.

"I'd rather be busting heads in my next tournament but..," Junpei groaned. "I guess a little time away from that world is better than living there. Besides, I could teach you some hand-to-hand combat." Junpei teaching Ash how to fight? Not on Dawn's watch.

"I don't think so!" she snapped. "Our world doesn't condone people fighting each other! You've gotta be out of your mind if you're gonna fight Ash! It's child abuse!" Someone wanted the trainer's code of conduct to stay strict. Someone else disagreed.

"You do realize that this isn't your world anymore, right?" Ila stated. Dawn's balked at Ila's retort. "Somehow, I would agree with Junpei on this subject and I bet if Ash agrees to it, he could transition it to his or your creatures." Dawn never thought of that. Using training from Junpei and teaching the Pokémon how to fight like he does?

"How did you know what I was gonna do with Junpei's training?" Ash gasped. Ila could explain but Brock offer his words instead.

"Because that's how you work," he simplified. "You always see something you like and you train that to your Pokémon with surprising results. You remember when Dawn tried the spinning techniques in her contests?" Ash should, and he did.

"How can I not? I was there rooting for her. That was when I used it on Fantina's Ghost Pokémon and won." Proof positive that Ash studies for battles.

"That wasn't what I had in mind but I like the attitude you bring," Junpei grinned. Both Ash and Junpei exchanged confident looks toward each other. There's nothing bad about a champion teaching a newbie to some martial arts...right?

"I can only see bad news from here," Ritsuko doubted. Well, there's that negative. Still, it didn't dampen Ila.

"Well, then," she spoke with a clap. "How about we finish and head to that cabin outside of these walls?" There's a cabin? The adventurers did not like the idea.

"Wait a minute, Ila," Jeanie spoke. "There's not enough room for all of them to sleep, even with Louie in your dorm room and Merrill's spot by the river." That could be a problem...or so tell that to Airi.

"Mike has our camping equipment in the tank," she brought up. "And I'm sure the trainers have their own bags, am I correct?" Pikachu and Piplup acknowledged Airi's plan.

"Then it's settled," Dawn chose. "We've got a place to rest while we're here and help in case there's an emergency." No one disputed this. After they ate, the group found the refuge Ila mentioned. It was getting late and Mike had just arrived. With the night came sleep...and all the girls had the cabin. The boys slept outside in a large tent. For Ash, Brock and Junpei, this sucked. The girls were warm inside while the boys froze their butts off...except for Mike. If it wanted, it could start the engine and warm itself. Ash couldn't stay asleep for long and got up. Still a little energy inside? He stepped out of the tent and proceeded a little ways away to a pond. Was it fear of training with Junpei? Was it guilt for not stopping Cyrus in his diabolical plan of starting a new galaxy? Not long, Celcia entered the scene and spotted Ash skipping stones across the lake. By the way, her ears have grown back. Louie's magic was temporary.

"You seem disturbed," she noticed. Ash turned to Celcia, surprised that he wasn't the only one up at this late hour.

"Celcia?" he gulped. She sat on a stump, mellowed from her tantrum against Junpei.

"Are you still mad at Cyrus for what he's done to the Legendary Pokémon and the Lake Trio?" That would make any trainer cringe and Ash was doing it.

"It's...more than that." There was an adjacent stump for Ash to plant his seat on. "I think it all started after Brandon, the frontier brain of the Battle Pyramid shutout Paul, a rival in Sinnoh. He was downright angry and I seemed to give off a little fear when it happened. A few days later, it was my turn to battle Paul...but my fear struck once more. I put on the bravest, angriest face I could muster, trying to remain uptight about the battle but...Paul saw through my smokescreen and beat me without breaking a sweat. Even since then, I began to doubt myself about being able to become a master like Cynthia." That can't be true. He was upbeat when with Ritsuko and Celecia against the ogres.

"You seemed raring to get trained by Junpei about martial arts. Was that a mask of it's own?" The shame weighed Ash's head down and forward.

"Yeah..." Talk about a deep issue. "Even though Brock, Dawn and Pikachu are with me...it's hard to stay in line with them and remain honest about how I feel sometimes." So the loss against this "Paul" character weighed on him more than what happened with Team Galactic. Celcia saw something that she thought would cheer him up.

"It's a loss, right? Nothing to really get upset about." Ash glanced at Celcia, wondering what she meant. "You've been trying to confess a feeling when I know that it's not the person you really are. No one wins every time. I mean, I bet Junpei's got a couple losses under his belt but it doesn't stop him." She had a point. Ash was dwelling with a loss like it was his livelihood being tarnished to the point of beyond repair.

"My elven counterpart's right," voiced...Celecia? Out of the woodwork, Celecia showed up. Both Ash and Celcia were a bit stunned to view the other elf in their presence.

"Celecia?" they both gasped in unison.

"I was a little too restless so I went out on a little run when I overheard Ash's little confession. Yeah, I get that you were a little overwhelmed by your fear and Paul's combative traits but to lie to your friends? Tch, tch, tch." That lowered Ash to more shame. "Well, allow me to help a bit by cleansing that sin off of your soul. Celcia, if you don't mind helping me..." Uh oh! What plan did she have for Ash that she needed Celcia's aid? Even Celcia had a bit of doubt to it. But when there's a wink, there's an understanding. Ash was not sure about what was coming...until...SPLASH! The elves dunked Ash into the lake. It's not even right to be manhandled by two women especially if they had to scrub you down fiercely and literally.

"Take it easy, Ash," Celcia teased.

"We're just helping you with cleaning up your act." Well, let's hope they don't drown him...even if it meant more than the shame he's filled himself with. Croagunk sneaked in, wondering if it wanted to act and protect his master's friend or let him be messed around with the elves. It chose to stay and watch the fun. Oh, sure. Anything involving Brock and a woman, it would stop that but with Ash...no, he didn't want any piece of _that_ action. We'll come back in the morning to see how they fare when an adventure becomes a focus.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...


	4. Elves 'R' US

_Chapter 4:Elves 'R' Us

* * *

_

The rising sun revealed the start of a new day...and two men ready to duke it out. Ash and Junpei faced each other for a spar at the crack of Dawn. Seriously, you might want to put your panties on before you get out of the hut, kid. On one side, two of Junpei's fingers and thumb on each hand formed talons of hawks. On the other side, Ash clenched his fists and began bouncing foot-to-foot, side-to-side. "I see now," Junpei recognized. "You've done boxing. Not meaning to brag but my first opponent was a boxer who didn't fight like one." So Junpei's start to his martial arts glory was a dirty boxer?

"He used his feet most of the time?" Ash guessed. "Sounds like he did kickboxing." Junpei shook his head. Not kickboxing?

"If he was, he would've had his ankles taped, not wear the boots for it." Dirty boxer. Ash agreed to the fact that the boxer was not one who belonged in a ring. Both were set. Martial artist versus boxer, one waiting for the other to make the first move. Ash became impatient. He raced in, bobbing his arms side-to-side, trying to fake Junpei out to one side while he struck with the other. Junpei didn't bite so Ash started a left jab. Junpei pushed the jab to the side and tried a palm to the sternum. Ash arched his back, evading the palm and countering with a right hook to the chest. POW! Ash's punch connected. Junpei shook the blow off and tried 1-2 punch combination. Left jab...Ash bobbed to the left. Right cross...Ash bent backwards. Junpei isn't connecting anything so far as Melissa came out to watch. Ash came back swinging but Junpei was ready. Right hook...blocked with the forearm. Left hook...blocked with the other forearm. Right uppercut...caught with the open hand. Melissa was not impressed with the spar so far. Junpei was fascinated. "Hey, you're pretty good with the Philly Defense but you're a little sloppy with your swings." Ash grinned to the grading Junpei was giving him.

"Well, I do have a few tricks up my sleeve I wanted to use." Junpei smiled, expecting to have a few dirty shots coming his way. Once reset, Junpei fired a hay-maker but Ash used both of his arms to catch the arm for a running block. He pushed and twirled for a roundhouse hook. Junpei noticed and ducked in time. The spinning hook failed...greatly. Ash fell face first into the dirt, almost knocking himself out. Melissa got a little worried that Ash was hurt and ran over to him. Ash shook off the miss and got to his feet, prompting Melissa to stop.

"Damn, you almost had me there." Ash dusted off the dirt from that fall.

"Well, you didn't win six championships without something up your sleeve, right?" Finally, Melissa arrived. In a motherly state, she yanked Ash toward her as protection. Ash was a bit startled with Melissa's step.

"Stop what you're doing right now, Junpei!" she protested. "You will no longer hurt this child!" Overreacting seemed to be Junpei's thought process. As he steamed in frustration, Ash opted to settle her down.

"It's just a spar. Nothing to get dramatic over." Melissa appeared to jump to conclusions. She began to distance herself from the men, alerting Junpei.

"Is something up, Mel?" he asked. She stuttered a bit but recovered at seeing the position of the shadows.

"I do apologize," she sighed. "I woke up and was ready to head to the temple for morning prayer when I saw your...spar." Morning services, a time to pray for good will. "I was also hoping that the girls would come and join in the services as well. However, I'm not sure I could accept Ritsuko with her cache of weapons or Celcia since...well..." Since she's an elf...got it.

"Don't...remind me..." Ash groaned. Junpei and Melissa got to wondering what that was about, not reminding Ash about...it might have been last night. Ash opted to waive Melissa off. "Look, head on over to the temple. We'll see you later." Just like that, she's...staying?

"Actually, is it all right if you come?" An invite for both to join in the morning prayers? Both gazed at each other, wondering if morning services might help. They weren't the only ones. Pikachu and Piplup came out, wondering what was going on outside. Melissa looked at the two, thinking that they would want to join as well. "You two are welcome to join us." A thoughtful gesture. Sure, the creatures would love to come along.

"Okay, gimme a sec to leave Dawn a note." He entered the house and exited. With Pikachu and Piplup, the group made their way to Ohfun. Inside a white church, the hums of "Mylee" echoed through the halls. Melissa read a sermons from a book that was chosen for today's service as Ash, Junpei and the Pokémon watched. Pikachu and Piplup were fascinated with her sermon's reading. Ash? Junpei? Bored out of their minds. So bored, they fell asleep midway. Okay, they stopped paying attention.

"So, what happened last night?" Junpei opened. "I noticed your bag was empty." Ash could wonder about where Junpei was going with this. Wait...what business was this where for him to discuss on.

"I just sat by the pond and skipped rocks for awhile." That's all he could say? Strong case saying that he didn't want to discuss the elves who came by as well.

"Why the hell would you be skipping rocks all night?" Could Ash reveal the truth of Celcia and Celecia?

"Nervous, a bit." Guess not. Even Junpei wanted to scoff the concept of Ash being nervous.

"Talk about unprofessional."

"Can you blame me? You're five times stronger and more skilled in hand-to-hand combat than me." Another scoff billowed from Junpei.

"Just because I'm bigger than you doesn't necessarily mean I'm better. I mean, you came out with that Tornado Cross that I wasn't ready for. Then again, you'd be suitable for Muay Thai kickboxing, not just American-Style fisticuffs." Ash seemed intrigued with Junpei's suggestion of a martial art class for him to join the boxing he's got.

"Do you really see me in kickboxing?"

"Well, yeah! I could train you in that, as well as your creatures. I'm a 3rd degree black belt in Karate, 4th degree in Kenpo and 2nd degree in kickboxing." Karate, Kenpo and kickboxing in one. That's a true mixed martial artist. Ash thought about the offer of being a martial artist like Junpei. Then again, he would be willing to use that and transition it to his Pokémon. However, there was no timetable for them to return to the Pokémon World and he was with Cynthia, the Pokémon champion. Of course...even with that, Ash couldn't use it on anyone back home because of a zero-contact law which prohibits trainers from fighting without their creatures. What could he do? He saw a chance to workout the Pokémon but he didn't want to return a killing machine. He began to walk out.

"I'm gonna need a moment to think." With that, Ash exited the room and entered the hallway to think on this offer. Probably not the best place when three young women in white priestess outfits come walking by as well. The tallest blue-haired female with the same squinted eyes as Brock. The shortest was an orange-haired with blue eyes. The last was a redhead, practically the middle of the three. She had auburn brown eyes, not to forget the thickest eyebrows. All three saw Ash, pondering the thinking. However...

"Hey, didn't you come here with Miss Melissa?" the orange-haired girl recognized. That broke Ash out of his thinking. Seeing the three girls, Ash seemed straight. Guess he's use to seeing lovely young ladies.

"Yeah, she invited me to come, along with another man and a couple of Poke- I mean pets." The three became somewhat dumbfounded. Pets in a place of worship? They huddled.

"I don't think we accept pets in the temple," the blue-haired girl pointed out.

"Maybe Miss Melissa wanted to excuse them from any hunting, legal or otherwise," the redhead figured. "Still, don't you think in a few years, he could be worthy of being my champion?" Uh oh! Ash could be in trouble.

"Nah uh, he'll be my champion!" the orange-haired argued.

"In your dreams!" The blue-haired one wanted this squabble to stop. Ash was staring into the argument.

"Gannet, Anna, let's learn about him first," she suggested. The other two stopped and agreed, breaking from their grouping.

"Sorry about that. We kinda had a disagreement." Ash waived it off.

"Don't worry about it," he sighed with a smile. "What's with Melissa that you're interested about?" The orange-haired girl stood forth to explain.

"You see, we're her best followers," she started. "We get pretty worried about her going out with that dumb champion, Louie the Loser." Ouch! Three girls who turned Louie down, that had to hurt the emotions.

"Yeah, that so-called magician, we hear, uses his bare knuckles than his brain a lot," the redhead added. "We still can't believe Mylee would choose him for Melissa!" Ash sighed, feeling his mental bar dip. Was he regretting being helped by Louie from the ogres?

"Louie would be higher on the bar than another friend of mine," he grumbled. "Whenever he comes across a pretty girl like you three, look out!" You can bet he was referring to Brock. The three girls seemed a little scared about the new man that could haunt them. But the redhead stepped up, cupping Ash's chin. Oh boy...

"Well, I think we'd rather have you than Louie or that friend of yours." She was hitting on Ash? This could be trouble.

"Gannet!" the orange-haired girl snapped. "No fair!" That could mean she's Anna. Without warning...

"What's are all three of you doing to Ash?" sounded Melissa. Was the sermons over for the day? The ladies jumped at her tone.

"M-M-Miss Melissa!" Gannet shrieked. "Are you done with today's session?" Melissa nodded, saying that the day was finished.

"I am, but what are you doing pestering this young man who was deep in thought?" Hey, give them a break. They were curious.

"You see, it was our day off today from priestess training so we decided to stop by and help you with the sermons," Anna tried to excuse their actions. "We saw you come to the temple today with some muscled jerk and...him." Were they afraid to ask Melissa if they could keep Ash?

"Uh, Miss Melissa," the blue-haired girl spoke. "We don't...allow pets in the temple, do we?" You can bet Melissa had an answer for that.

"They are actually guardians for young Ash," she replied. "They keep the man safe while under his control." Smooth, Melissa. The girls acted clarified about the ruling. "Now, if you are done with his business, you should get moving." The girls obeyed and walked off. Ash better be thanking...why was Melissa sneering? "So, they listen to Melissa the most." She can't be Melissa. She removed the hair...

"Airi?" Ash guessed. It was Airi as Melissa. She's good.

"I do apologize. Those girls aren't really cut out for you." That's a shame. "Come on." Both Ash and Airi exited the scene, the temple altogether. The noise prompted Junpei and the Pokémon to peer outside.

"Was that Miss Airi?" he wondered. And would you look at that...Melissa was still on the podium. Meanwhile, Ash and Airi were at the tavern with Louie, Jeanie, Ila and Merrill. A meeting of some sort.

"I know it's not really a mission of some sort but someone wants a party to deliver these rare herbs to the so-called Phantom Forest," Merrill informed. "And because there's little money, I'm bowing out of this errand." Someone in need of herbal delivery. The fact that there was little payment made Airi believe Merrill was money hungry.

"So, without a big score, there's no reason to go on these adventures," she pieced together.

"Damn right! This is more of get in, get out. No real purpose to do it." Not necessarily to Ash. To him, it was an opportunity to explore more lands.

"Excuse me if I may correct you, Merrill," he spoke up. "But ever think that there may be the thrill of new places to explore like the Phantom Forest?" It's not a bad argument but...

"You don't get that thrill if you've been there before," Louie pointed out. Better point. Ash figured that they've gone through the forest. "Of course, that's where we met Celecia." Now, it made sense. However, it also clicked in Louie's head of a plan. "Hey, I have an idea." An idea Merrill and Jeanie knew wasn't good.

"Oh boy," Merrill groaned. Let's hear his plan.

"Since you like to see new places, you can go and run the errand." Not a bad idea from him.

"Hey, I like the sound of that!" Ash cheered with glee. You know, not everyone agreed to this plan.

"Just a second, you two," Jeanie barked. "Don't you think it's reckless to send a child toward the Elven Village? I mean with the trolls, goblins and what-not strolling around..." Dangers...that's what had Jeanie worried. Of course, someone would have the audacity to measure Jeanie's toughness.

"If you're so worried about him getting hurt," Airi started. "Why not join him on this... 'errand?'" Was this a test for Jeanie to prove her...woman-hood?

"Don't assign me to babysitting duties." You were the one who suggested Ash not go alone. "It's enough of a problem with the magician. Perhaps he should go with him." Louie? That' who she glared at. Unfortunately, he wasn't in the mood.

"If I go out, I have to bring Melissa as well," he proclaimed. "That's in the contract I was forced into. And you know how much she hates going through those woods." What proof did he have that Melissa hated traveling through there? The monsters inside those woods?

"If it's any problem, I would go instead and keep Brave Boy company," Ila offered. That startled Louie a bit.

"Ila, you sure?"

"Yeah, keep in mind that I just received a shipment of magical items that I'd like to test in the open field." That's one who's prepared. That's when Ash had a suggestion of his own.

"Say, you think Celcia would like to come with?" he wondered. "I mean, she's an elf too." Airi realized where Ash was going with this offer.

"Indeed, she could fit in with the village without struggle," she added. Ash and Airi provided a good case.

"That's a great idea," Ila agreed. "We can head back to the household and collect her for the trip." Ila was happy but back at the house...

"As fascinating as it sounds, NO!" Celcia barked. She denied the offer of going with the rest. Ritsuko, Cynthia and Dawn watched.

"I would agree with Miss Celcia on this," Ritsuko opened. "We should be concentrating with trying to find our way back to our home worlds, not go on these trips to substitute the issues." A rather strong argument there. Ila was ready for the punches.

"You guys think you can find any clues by standing around and doing nothing?" she snapped. "From all we know, we could find something that can help us altogether." Don't forget about what the village had. Celcia would blend in perfectly.

"Besides, we're talking about a village of elves and without Junpei, you don't have to worry about him stripping the clothes off of elves." Yeah, let's leave Junpei behind like back at the temple.

"I don't know," Celcia pondered. "Meeting elves without Junpei would be a good day since he doesn't have to tear the clothes apart. Can I consider Brock as well? I've tried his cooking and it's something I doubt I can match." Using Brock as a carry-on chef. For Ash, it didn't sound like a bad idea.

"You bet." Celcia seemed happy. Cynthia was more optimistic.

"I doubt Ash will give you trouble on your journey to the Elven Village," she promised. Celcia knew that Ash wasn't going to be an issue. She had that talk last night. Dawn had gone inside to tell Brock that he was on cooking duties, much to Brock's delight. After a while to prepare, Ash, Brock, Celcia, Ila and Pikachu began their errand, carting a crate. That had to be the herbs the villagers requested. However, Ila's magical items were not needed. No encounters. No chance for Ash to show some of those skills he trained with Junpei. They reached the woodland village, home to a host of pointy-eared people. There were the male elves working hard to protect the forest and female elves cleaning the houses and all that was inside them. There were even little elves who were playing with a ball.

"So, this is the village where Louie and the rest were incarcerated," Ila awed. "Louie told me about how he used a boar he killed to smuggle my Demon Whistle and escape. I still can't get the pork stench out of that whistle." Yuck! One of the elf kids kicked the ball over everyone's head, but into Ash's hands who caught it effortlessly. The kids, three boys and two girls, came over to meet the human. They weren't scared, but excited to see Ash and Pikachu.

"Hey, thanks for catching our ball!" one brunette young elf boy cheered. Ash tossed the ball back to allow them to continue playing.

"No problem," he scoffed. A redhead elf girl stepped up, a question on her mind.

"Say, is it alright if you play with us?" she asked. "We were told that humans were wicked but you don't look like that." That's rather nice of her to say. Ash nodded and with Pikachu, they played with the elven kids.

"Guess humans are not normally welcomed around here," Brock studied. Apparently not.

"No, because of the history between man and woodland beings is a clash where one would start a fight and explode to a war of mob mentality," Ila expressed. Wait...were none of these young elven women not appealing to Brock? Even Celcia was wondering about this turn of events.

"Do none of these women get your desire, Brock?" she teased. Brock didn't flinch to her mocking...and there seemed to be a reason behind it.

"They're all married." Really? Not one elf for him? "Every female I see, they're wearing rings which appear to be designed out of leaves. It's proof that these women are either married or engaged to someone else. I've yet to see a ring-less hand." It's a strong case. As the girls looked around, three elderly elves stepped forward. They were donning white priest gowns.

"Ah, another elf has appeared in this desolate village," one in front gawked. "And I suppose you're a spy who captured these humans as prisoners?" Wrong case, sir.

"No, we came to deliver the herbs you requested," Celcia corrected. "These humans are escort in case we ran into problems." The elders got the message now.

"Very well. Follow us." The three obeyed and tailed the elders to a hut, leaving Ash and Pikachu to play with the kids. Inside the hut, Ila and Brock were told not to enter. It's a meeting amongst the elves. "Celcia Marie Claire, thank you and your escort for delivering the medicinal herbs to the village. The reason we've disallowed the human is because a day ago, our village was trespassed." A human entered the village?

"I can assure you that none of the humans, not even those two had seen this village until a little while ago." The debate had started.

"We doubt your claim," another elder shot it down. "Two of our soldiers were killed by someone with hair of the clear sky." Casualties. No wonder they were showing apprehension. The third reached for something and presented...a "G?" The yellow "G" appeared to be ripped from some sort of clothing. The "G" had an interesting font. "This was what one pulled off before expiring." Celcia studied the cloth, wondering who could kill elves that were protecting this village. She's never seen it before. Maybe one of the humans did.

"Let me show this to the escort." She rose and stepped out. Brock and Ila turned to Celcia. "Brock, I need your help." She presented the "G" to Brock who went cold with spite. He knew it off the bat.

"That's Team Galactic's insignia!" he answered. Team Galactic was here? "This isn't good." No kidding. A member of that group ready to tear this world apart after the trainers' described the events prior to arriving here?

"Witnesses say that it was a man with hair the color of clear skies." That had Brock on alert. He knew who had that description.

"Cyrus...what could he want, now?"

"I don't know," Ila shrugged. "But from your tone, nothing good." Nothing good indeed. Could Cyrus be the key in returning the elf hunters and trainers back to their home? To those teams, the quest to return has just begun.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...


	5. Having a Bad Conrad?

_Chapter 5:Having a Bad Conrad?

* * *

_

The "G" laid in the middle of the table. A member of Team Galactic had entered and left a nasty mark in the elven village. Two elves were killed. The emblem was surrounded by Cynthia, Ila, Louie and Ritsuko in the tavern. "Why would someone go out and kill elves?" Ritsuko cringed. "I mean, we stripped elves. I'm not gonna argue." Thus the name Those Who Hunt Elves.

"I may not know who Team Galactic is," Louie murmured. "That doesn't excuse them from wasting some elves." Cynthia agreed, growling at the team who brought them out of the Pokémon World.

"I do," she seethed. "But to see them go this low and murder some villagers for what?" A dark emanating cloud began to form around the group as the door opened for another customer. That tall blond man in silver knight armor approached the mulling gang.

"This is an interesting sight for moi to return to," he announced his presence. "The magician-turned-valiant champion with more girls than ever?" The group turned to the sound, eying the rather handsome and cunning knight...much to Louie's chagrin.

"I thought I ran you out of town, Conrad!" he roared. Conrad scoffed at Louie's claim as if it was a joke.

"My apologies, monsieur. I don't recall such a task being ordered." Quite the mock. Louie steamed at Conrad's cocky "forgetfulness." "And before you think about it, I'm not exactly here for Miss Melissa's hand, even though I'm the handsome knight of Ramliearth." He did look the part, that much could be said. However, that didn't really motivate Louie as he jumped from his hot seat.

"Handsome? Let me remind you of the scrawny liar underneath that flimsy shell you still rely on!" Conrad threw a hand in front. No arguments he was willing to fight.

"Parish the thought. I wanted to see if I'm able to be a valiant champion like yourself." Was a follower waiting for someone like him? He sat at an adjacent table, acting like a customer...or maybe he was hungry. "Waiter, a garden salad and mineral water, please!" The order made Cynthia want to joke about it.

"At least he's eating healthy," she teased. That...would vary.

"Why the heck would he request to be a valiant champion?" Louie wondered with theory. "Is he even qualified for such?" Someone remind him that he was Melissa's valiant champion without proper clearance.

"Louie, you never had to sign up and pass a series of challenges to become Melissa's champion," Ila backtracked. Then, why did Louie jump to a conclusion like that? He fumbled to react to Ila's retort. Meanwhile at the Mylee Temple, Ash sat in a pew, praying on behalf of the fallen elves as the hymns of "Mylee" continue to echo. Ash had been angered when he learned about the deaths of the elven soldiers by the hand of Team Galactic. In the middle of his silent farewell to people he never met, Gannet entered the scene and wondered what Ash was doing long after the sermons. It wouldn't have occurred to her that there were deaths.

"Couldn't resist coming to pray among the confines of Mylee?" she questioned. It disrupted Ash but instead of blowing a gasket, he opened his eyes and rested his folded hands.

"Contemplating what to do," he murmured. Gannet seemed to understand. To her, Ash was seeking guidance from their god.

"I see. By the way, I do apologize for Anna and Joan. They saw you as someone better than that loser Louie." Ash wanted to believe her but felt that someone was not mentioned.

"If I recall, you also wanted me." Can't hide the truth and Gannet was caught in the subject. She began to itch her neck in nervous tension.

"Yeah...I mean, can you atone my sin of forgetfulness?" No real reason to ask but Ash huffed a giggle about it. "I'll take that as a yes." Then, Gannet had an idea. "I know! How about coming to the training grounds and watching us in action?" Not a bad plan.

"Sure! I got nothing planned!" Sure, he had nothing on his mind...but...

"Can't you let the kid relax?" sounded Junpei. Both Ash and Gannet turned to see the muscled man who had Pikachu on his shoulder. "He's not one motivated by women to go wherever you like to guide him." Ash was a little startled with Junpei's arrival. Gannet? A little fumed.

"How dare you come and interrupt our friendly conversation," she snarled. Junpei wasn't one for that tone from a young lady.

"Interrupt? Hell, what about you enticing him over to meet more girls who he could care less about?"

"What? You're accusing me of enticing him?" One loud growl told Ash she was at her wit's end. "You muscle-bound jerks are all the same!"

"You're calling me a muscle-bound jerk?" Ash had enough. In a flash, he slapped Gannet in the shoulder and Junpei in the stomach.

"Cool it, you two!" he snapped almost immediately.

("This is a place of worship!") Pikachu added in roar. Junpei and Gannet relaxed in fear of what Ash could do to each. They became hushed. Finally, Ash had their undivided attention.

"Now Junpei, did you want something from me?" Junpei acted a tad perplexed. Did Ash wanted something from Mr. Martial Artist?

"Pikachu wanted to know where you were so I brought him over here since Celcia told me about what happened yesterday," he explained. Gannet became suspicious of the account of an incident. Ash was happy that Pikachu wanted to be by him.

"Is that so?"

("Come on, Ash,") Pikachu teased. Gannet had a better look at Pikachu, realizing it was one of the animals that stopped by yesterday morning.

"So this is Pikachu," she awed as she snatched it away from Ash and began to pet his head. Pikachu was enjoying it. "Aren't you such a cutie pie?" she cooed. "I guess a cute guy would hold a cute mouse like you." Ash blushed like it was a bit much to refer. Junpei shook his head in dismay. To him, the more Gannet referred to Ash, the more infatuated she was.

"I'm surprised that you're not asking him for a hand in marriage," he groaned. Gannet sighed, believing Junpei didn't get it.

"Sadly, the only way a priestess can marry is if Mylee's guidance is far more correct than once imagined. And I've yet to receive the guidance like Miss Melissa." Still a few years away. "Anyway, what do you say we go and see the training grounds?" The boys weren't really doing anything so they agreed. A little while later, the group was outside in a garden with several young priestesses practicing staff work. Thrust! Parry! Spin! Block! What, you thought it was about interaction involving a male?

"1!" they chanted each movement. "2! 3! 4! 1! 2! 3! 4!" Seemed as though these priestesses were gearing for battle, much like their god.

"I may have been a gamer back then, but aren't clerics and priests the non-attacking bunch and more of the healing," he pointed out.

"We are dedicated priestesses under the watchful eye of Mylee, God of Battle," Gannet expressed. "We practice everyday in case enemies choose to strike Ohfun. Healing is our first item of true priestess and this is our second option." Ash listened, realizing that the priestesses wanted to fight like their god.

"Makes total sense," he murmured. "Those who cannot face the enemy head-on is doomed on the first sight." Wow! Where did Ash come up with that proverb?

"There are fates worse than death, thus your point is rather true." Not looking, a tall redhead female in a black robe walked up on the group. Her eyes were mostly on...

"I've been wondering where you've run off to, Gannet," she spoke softly. Gannet jumped in surprise and turned to the smiling elder.

"Mistress Jenny!" Jenny glanced over to the other three as Melissa came by.

"Oh, Ash!" she jumped. "Junpei!" Jenny peeked over to Melissa, knowing that she had met these boys prior.

"You know these men?"

"I do, Jenny. This is Ash Ketchum, a Pokémon Trainer with his Pikachu. He and his friends were pulled from their world by someone from Team Galactic. The other is Junpei Ryuuzouji, a supposed six-time Martial Arts champion in which his friends were drawn out by a failed summons to return them to their original home." Jenny seemed intrigued with Junpei's background. A champion...

"A Martial Arts champion?" Junpei was ready to please.

"If you want, I can demonstrate that champion strength," he requested. "I just need a stack of concrete plates." Ah, the basic Karate Chop.

"Of course." A couple of priestesses gathered a stack of curved plates and stacked them on a couple of blocks. The stack had ten plates. Ash and Pikachu watched, thinking Junpei was either going to break these plates...or his hand. "You may begin." Junpei stepped up to the plates. He slowly guided his hand, the side of it toward the plates with the thumb at the top. He reeled it back, ready to chop it. However, he slowly guided it back down. Not yet. He reeled it back once more. Was this it? Junpei let out a scream as he swiftly swung his arm at the boards. Contact! Junpei's arm had so much momentum, the chop bashed through the plates as if it was paper. Finally, the arm stopped on the pile of destroyed plates. All ten plates were annihilated. Junpei clenched his hand, all bones moving normally. Success! The priestesses and Ash applauded Junpei's demonstration.

"Thank you!" Junpei was proud of that successful chop.

"Not bad!" Ash complimented. The group was stopping their applauds but one continued. All looked to see the praised soul...and Melissa's face flushed. It was Conrad! Cynthia and Ritsuko joined Conrad and entered the garden.

"Bravo, young man!" he praised greatly. "You've got quite a chop." That's when his eyes darted to Melissa. "Aha! There's my fiancee! How has Mylee's chosen been treating you, my sweet Melissa?" Ash's and Junpei's faces had befuddle written across the bridge of their noses.

"Did that suave-wannabe just call Melissa...fiancee?" Junpei mumbled. Ash heard it, not believing it.

"Yep," Ash muttered. Melissa was disgusted about Conrad's arrival.

"Conrad, have you forgotten the deal?" Melissa began to retort. "I'm no longer your fiancee!" Conrad scoffed the information, a joke to him.

"Yea, how oft I'm reminded of that spar with your magician," he spat. "And how much he's humiliated me because of it. However, they shall not be more than a nuisance to keep us apart." The audacity began to seethe Ash. He growled at Conrad.

"I think you need your ears examined," he hissed. Conrad heard Ash, all right. So did Cynthia.

"So, he lied," she studied. "Conrad's here for Melissa."

"Yeah, talk about not learning his lesson," Ritsuko agreed. Conrad continued to scoff, an ongoing joke he proceeded to laugh at.

"Doth thou not know who I am?" he sneered. "I am the handsome knight of Ramliearth! A victor amongst the villainy of truth, justice and love." Ash never was one to back down...or lie.

"Can't say I have," he shrugged. "I've only been here for a few days." At least he could say that much. Conrad unsheathed a large sword from his side.

"So you say! Let's settle this once and for all!" Ash gazed at the size of the blade pointed right in his face. This was already a dangerous scene and Gannet stepped up, blocking Conrad from attacking Ash.

"Don't do this!" she pleaded. "Ash has never done anything to deserve a threat to his life!" This was a tough situation with an outcome that spelled tragedy. Ash wasn't backing off.

"Staff, please," he asked for a weapon. Gannet was shocked at Ash's decision to face Conrad. One priestess tossed Ash her staff.

"Are you sure?" He was sure with a smiling grit. Gannet stepped aside. Conrad was a bit awed with Ash's choice to fight.

"A brave but foolish choice," he grinned. He started with a cross swing from left to right. Ash dove, cleared of the strike. He rolled to a knee and thrust the staff. CRACK! Conrad felt the hit, quickly dropping his sword. Ash scored a direct hit...not to the head, not to the chest... Junpei winced at the location of the strike and the priestesses looked away. If that was any indication of where Ash nailed Conrad, you'd feel the pain he was suffering. Ritsuko cringed and Cynthia...Whew, talk about cold as ice. She didn't stutter at the shot. Ash released the staff and rose to his feet...just as Conrad fell to his knees, clutching the twig and berries under the armor. Anyone reading this would feel Conrad's pain.

"Sorry," he playfully apologized. "I saw the only spot open and chased it." Conrad couldn't respond. He was in too much pain from that shot below the belt.

"Winner by score of a TKO, Ash," Cynthia smiled. Poor Conrad. His only break was the one in the groin. The rest of the day had gone by quickly as the trainers and adventurers were back at the house. Cynthia told the group about Ash's quick spar with Conrad. Hearing about Conrad's crotch becoming injured made Merrill, Dawn and Brock cringe as well. Jeanie didn't flinch.

"Ash, how could you?" Dawn snapped. "That's a man's most sensitive spot!" How would she know unless she did it to another boy?

"I know Conrad can be a pest," Merrill understood Ash's place. "But that's no reason to bash his jewels in!" Jeanie would agree with Merrill...to a fault.

"After Cynthia's explanation of the event, I stand by Ash all the way," she smiled. Ouch on Conrad.

"Of course you would," Brock snarled. "You'd be willing to crush Louie's nuts when you feel like it." Knowing how much she disliked Louie, it would be understandable...but not quite.

"Knowing that he endangered the lives of the priestesses training, Ash was obligated to defend them." She found Ash not guilty by reason of defensive actions? Cynthia agreed.

"That would be my verdict as well," she acknowledged. Suddenly, the door opened. It was Airi and Louie.

"Hey, guys!" Louie greeted as he walked toward the table. "I heard about what happened with that upstart knight." Did he like the turnout or not?

"Yeah, sorry about that," Ash apologized with a scratch on the neck.

"No, no, it's okay. Conrad deserved it." That's when he turned serious. "Actually, I wanted to talk about something in town." In town?

"There have been reports of a creature at a lake a day away from Ohfun," Airi informed. The group listened to the news. "This creature would hide whenever someone came across it and when someone would come too close, there's a force of some sort which propels them far from it. One said he flew for a mile, at least." A creature displaying a mighty force? What else?

"Was there a description of this creature?" Dawn questioned.

"There was. It was a small thing with two tails, blue skin and a yellow head. It wasn't a creature they knew of." No, but Brock sprung to his feet in shock. Did he know?

"Uxie!" he blurted. Uxie? All glared at Brock, thinking he knew who it was. That's when Merrill remembered the early talk.

"You don't mean Uxie of the Lake Trio, do you?" she gasped.

"I do! If Uxie's here, Azelf and Mesprit are here too!" The Lake Trio near Ohfun? What problems rose for Ash and the group? Could the Lake Trio be their way home?

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...


	6. Uxie, It Goes Like This

_Chapter 6: Uxie, It Goes Like This!

* * *

_

Ah, nothing like a relaxing day around the town of Ohfun. Even a merchant was feeling great as he wheeled a carriage full of goods. Without warning, the horse stopped its hoofing. This befuddled the rider. "Hey, girl," he spoke. "What's wrong?" The Philly pulled the cart to the side of the road...for good reason. Here came Mike! The loud meow was a war cry for the oncoming T-74 military tank as it roared down the road. The merchant and horse were rather startled with the size of the tank that passed them. "Isn't that the steel chariot rumored to be in the land?" Unfortunately, yes. Yes it was. Riding Mike, Ash, Dawn and Brock roared on through to search for Uxie who may have been brought over with the rest. Getting information from Louie about the lake creature, Brock acted in heightened fear about what may have happened to the lake trio.

"Let's hurry, Mike!" Brock tried to hustle. Ritsuko loaned Mike to the trainers to find Uxie. Mike meowed proudly toward the lake. Pretty soon, the lake was within eying distance.

"That's gotta be the lake!" Ash pointed out. Mike rolled the heavy treads to the edge, trying to avoid going into the lake. It's still a cat spirit and the tank weighed a few tons. Soon enough, the massive tank rolled to a stop, refusing to barrel into the water. Quickly, Ash had two Pokémon ready. "Staraptor, Buizel, I choose you!" Staraptor and Buizel emerged from their balls. "Check the lake to see if Uxie's around." Obeying, Buizel entered the lake as Staraptor flew overhead. Hopefully, the group can find the Pokémon which brought them here. The search continued for about an hour with no sign.

"Maybe this isn't the lake where Uxie's hiding," Dawn began to doubt the information. Brock felt that this _was_ the spot.

"It's the only lake that fits the description," Brock countered. "Besides, Uxie may be harmed by some of the passing travelers." That made Ash grit more with determination.

"We can't just give up if we know it's out there," Ash further fueled the hope. That's when the lake began to ripple. Buizel popped out but that wasn't him. From the ripple came out a black sphere. It was floating in the air. Was this Uxie? "What is that?" Not sure, Buizel swam to it. Bad move. A force overwhelmed Buizel and sent him back to Ash. All there was had been surprise. Brock tried to think of something to stop that black sphere...but what?

"Uxie, it's me!" Was it Uxie?

"Are you sure that's Uxie?" Dawn feared the worst. Without warning, the force rippled and struck Brock, flying him back a couple of feet. Brock struggled to keep his feet on the ground.

"Uxie! Stop!" It wasn't working. Maybe it wasn't Uxie. The sphere lunged forward and decked Ash across the cheek and sent him right into Mike's chassis. BAM! Ouch! Turning the turret, Mike feared that Ash was hurt.

"Ash!" Dawn screeched in concern too. Then the sphere chased Mike...who decided a little Babe Ruth action was perfect. He wound the turret. Batter up! The swing...CRACK! And it's a line drive skipper over the lake and there's only open room for a possible inside-the-park Home Run! The sphere smashed through a tree...then another...then another... Anyone got the slugging percentage on Mike? The sphere returned and charged the group but more toward the hitter, Mike. Just at the last moment, Brock reached out and grabbed the sphere. The sphere jerked to free itself but when Brock's hands began to bury inside it, the truth was starting to come out. It was a shield. Brock felt something inside the shield...and clutched it to his chest. The shield popped and there was a golden head of a tiny blue person-like creature. It had long twin tails, twice as long as it's small middle...which was all covered in some black coat of...something.

"Uxie, calm down!" This was Uxie? Ash wasn't sure if it was Uxie because of the blackened body. The more the creature struggled, the tighter Brock held it.

"If that's Uxie, what's all that black stuff on it's body?" he questioned. Uxie's squinted eyes began to glow white. Brock turned Uxie around before it fired a huge beam of light into the lake. The lake became bone dry with the water splashed up to the sky. The fish, flushed out of the water against their own recognizance, flopped around helplessly for water. The kids were easily startled with what shot out of Uxie.

"Was that Psybeam?" Dawn freaked.

"That was more of a Psy-Bazooka than Psybeam!" Ash glanced at Uxie and rested a hand on it. A veil of blue coated Ash's hand and Uxie's head. All, including Ash were shocked with the glow on Ash's hand. "Is that...my aura?" Uxie's body ultimately stopped moving around so much and became incumbered with the power of the aura. It fell asleep.

"Ash, how were you able to do that?"

"Yeah, I thought you chose to forgo using your aura to be a trainer," Brock pointed out. Ash glanced at his hand which refused to stop glowing. That could be a problem.

"I don't know exactly," he shrugged. "But I'd like to know how to stop this glow on my hand if you don't mind." Ash tried to shake the glow off but...nope. He turned to the unconscious Uxie. "Anyway, what's with the blackness on Uxie?" No one was sure...until Dawn remembered a story from one of the other teams.

"Remember what Airi told us about how they were transported here?" she backtracked. "Maybe there's a link to Celcia's spell and the Legendary Pokémon sending us here." What sort of link? Finally, Ash had an idea.

"I think I get it," he spoke as he rested his chin on his glowing hand. "Cyrus tried to use Dialga and Palkia to escape while at the same time, Junpei began to disrupt Celcia's incantation to return him and the other three home. When the portals opened up, the spell broke apart and attached themselves onto the Lake Trio and actually boosted their abilities in an uncontrolled state. It would explain why Uxie's Psybeam was a lot stronger than normal." Where did all that logic come from? It was like Ash had looked into the matter a lot more closely than normal, since it was on the subject.

"Ash, where did you come up with that hypothesis?" Brock stuttered. Ash removed his glowing hand and turned...rather dumbfounded with why they glared at him like that until he looked at his hand.

"I...don't know." What? In animated fashion, Brock and Dawn pounded the dirt on their fronts in record time. Needless to say, they weren't too happy with Ash's sudden forgetfulness.

"How could you forget what intellect you just blurted out a couple seconds ago?" Dawn stormed in anger. Ash was relatively surprised to hear that outburst, acting as if she had no idea what she meant.

"I-Intellect?" Brock came over and grabbed the still-glowing hand and examined it. Something about that hand seemed abnormal besides the fact that it continued to emit aura.

"We need to see Ila and ask if there's a way to calm the aura," he suggested. Ash and Dawn agreed and returned to Mike. Ash placed his glowing hand onto Mike, letting him know they're ready to go back.

"Let's head back and meet Celcia, Mike!" Mike meowed, something disturbing him. For some reason, Ash felt his sympathy. "I'm sure Ritsuko's got some cat food on the way back." There it was again. Brock and Dawn weren't sure what to make but right now wasn't the time to debate. They got back to the hut where Cynthia, Louie, Ila, Celcia, Pikachu and Piplup waited for the safe return. The sight of Mike and Brock riding on top was promising. Stopping feet from the house, Brock hopped off and dashed to the others.

"Brock, how did it go?" Cynthia wondered. There was some good news but he wasn't sure if exploiting all was necessary.

"We found Uxie, but..." Brock stuttered as he revealed Uxie and it's condition. Cold as a cucumber, Cynthia wasn't phased. Louie? Celcia? Shocked! Brock rested the still sleeping Pokémon on the table where Celcia waived her hand over it. Astonishment became her elven face.

"This is it!" she shuttered. "This is from the book I used when trying to transport the others home!" The spell book used to send Those Who Hunt Elves back to Japan? "Is Uxie asleep?" Ash nodded. He was the one who knocked it out. "Good. It's mind should be cleared of anything to transfer the fragments onto my body." That's when Louie brought out a blank scroll. Why a blank scroll?

"Here!" he offered. "It's a magic scroll. Just transfer the fragments onto here and save all the markings for when it's time to go home." Celcia bobbed. Celcia extended her hands.

"Thou who are lost and alone possess thyself onto the scroll of gathering." Celcia's hands were glowing like Ash's hand but with a different color: gold. Speaking of Ash, his glowing hand was being operated on by Ila. That's when the blackness on Uxie started to glow the gold as well. Then, a gold beam seeped off of Uxie, circled Clecia's arms and onto the scroll. The fragments covered a great portion of the scroll's bottom. The gold reverted to black again with interesting text and font on the scroll. A new language perhaps? Uxie began to stir, all blue again. It looked around before spotting Brock and floated over to him in joy.

"Uxie!" Brock cheered in excitement. Everyone was happy that Uxie was back to normal. Celcia came forward to see how Uxie was fairing.

"How's Uxie doing?" It did look like Uxie was happy.

"Uxie, this is Celcia. She removed all that black stuff from your chest." Uxie floated over and gave the senior elf a kiss in the cheek. Aw, that was nice. Louie also appreciated the sight but something came to his mind, which was odd since most of his thinking came from his patent Louie Punch.

'If Uxie had a chunk of Celcia's spell,' he pondered in thought. 'Then the other two, Azelf and Mesprit, may have the other pieces needed. The only question is where to look.' That was indeed an interesting theory. Calming down, the night fell. Late and Ash was still rather giddy. At least his hand was no longer glowing. Instead, a bracelet was wrapped on it. Out to his favorite spot, his mind was back to thinking.

'Uxie's back with us,' he replayed. 'Azelf and Mesprit must be around here somewhere, as well as Cyrus. But...knowing him, he'd refuse to return to the Pokémon world. Well, with Uxie, we may be able to find the other two in a flash.' It seemed to be all working out in favor of the trainers. Suddenly, there was a rustle. Could it be Celecia again? Nope, it's a young redhead girl carrying a wand fashioned like a hook. Ash had to be thinking who's she and at her age, what's she doing up at this time of night? She reached down and snagged the hand wearing the bracelet.

"A dispelling bracelet," she labeled. Dispelling? She threw caution to the wind and removed the bracelet. This revived the aura that emanated from him. Unbelievably, she's not phased one bit. Closing her eyes and having the other hand over her first and Ash's glowing hand, she began to mutter something. That's when the aura stopped glowing. How did she do that?

"Thanks...I guess." That's when the girl simply walked off. Nothing for Ash to say? That mystified him. "I wonder what that's all about?" We'd all like to know. What's next for the heroes? Will Azelf and Mesprit be rescued?

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...


	7. A Worthier Champion?

_Chapter 7: A Worthier Champion?

* * *

_

Another morning rose by the hut Louie and his adventurers loaned to the hunters and trainers. For Ash, all he needed was the nightly moon, not the rising sun. His mind wandered to that girl who relieved him of his glowing arm. He never got a wink of sleep because of this. He sat on a stump which had been cut several times. This had to be where they chopped firewood. "Who was she?" he murmured in a growl. "And why did she help me and leave without accepting my thanks?" Even with the calm and quiet the woods had to offer, he felt no relief. Waking up, Ritsuko and Piplup exited the confines of the hut. They saw Ash as irritated as they've ever seen. It almost reminded Ritsuko of Junpei, getting all upset at each bungle he created...but they weren't too sure how this was different.

"What's wrong, Ash?" she asked. Ash turned to Ritsuko with a slight concern on her face, as well as a green army uniform. Was there anything for Ash to say.

"I...don't think it's anything to worry about." Ritsuko didn't believe him for one second. Something bothered Ash and she wanted to bring it out into the open.

"I've been in a few of those situations with Junpei. What makes you think you trump him?" It wasn't about trumping someone.

"I'm not. I'm just...restless and tired." Ritsuko and Piplup had to be thinking about a possible homesickness. They've been away from their home worlds for sometime.

("Maybe he's anxious to return,") Piplup guessed. Ritsuko didn't need Dawn's help with translating. Then again, it may not have been the real reason for Ash's attitude. She approached Ash, kneeling down and resting a hand on a shoulder...and including a smirk.

"I may have the perfect tool for extracting the truth out of you," she plotted. What, a handgun? Drill? Jackhammer? Mike?

"What tool do you got?" Ash defied. "It's not gonna-" Instead of letting him finish, Ritsuko shut him up and a kiss on the lips. Whoa, and you thought Gannet would be the one to claim his lips. Ritsuko was enjoying Ash's lips so much, she didn't want to let go of them. Someone else had other plans. Enter the junior priestesses.

"What are you doing to Ash, you tramp?" Anna lashed out. That didn't make Ash talk about the ordeal...but it did break Ritsuko's lip lock. Gannet, Anna and Joan weren't pleased with Ritsuko's actions onto Ash...or they could be upset with Ash accepting Ritsuko as a possible girlfriend. This was about to be a nasty confrontation between three trained junior priestesses and the tank girl. Ritsuko quickly became nervous about what these priestesses were going to do on her. It's rather unusual since she's had some training with the military...right?

"And...you are?" she stuttered. Gannet never broke her glare at Ritsuko...nor her scorn.

"Call me Gannet! Alongside Anna and Joan, I'm one of the three junior priestesses of Mylee who will one day claim Ash Ketchum as our champion! Because of our witness to your seduction, I challenge you to a duel!" A duel? All for a kiss? Anna handed a staff to her partner in the front as Joan lobbed another to Ritsuko who caught it effortlessly. Still, a challenge just because of her trying to break Ash's silence with a kiss? Outrageous, maybe. Interesting? Definitely. The stare down began between the two redheads while the prize and the penguin watched on.

"How did I become the subject of affection?" he wondered. Think Piplup knew? Think again.

("Maybe your mom knows,") it gave an option. His mom?

"C'mon, Gannet!" Anna cheered.

"You've got Mylee to support you!" Joan advised. Well, when you've worshiped the god of battle, you can expect some perks and trust in your fighting skills...or so it sounded in particular fashion. Both redheads swung their staffs, colliding on the end. The match had started...and then it ended...but who's that handsome chestnut brunette in the blue uniform? Certainly not Louie. He held both staffs in place. Ash, Ritsuko and Piplup were interested with the newcomer. Anna, Gannet and Joan? Stunned. "It's Isabel's champion!"

"S-Sir Lenard!" Gannet shrieked. Both redheads lowered their weapons as more people showed up. One was a tall blond in the same garb as Melissa except she had darker colored skin, around Brock's tone. The second appeared to be an old man with a white braided ponytail around the crown of his balded head. He had a basic mustache on his scowling face. That's when the last one peeked out. Ash nearly jumped out of his jeans spotting the youngest redhead.

"Hey, you're from last night!" he pointed out. Sir Lenard gazed at the little girl, wondering if this allegation was true.

"The spell I put on you should limit the amount of aura you expend," she explained. That would explain what she did to Ash's arm in replacement of the bracelet.

"That would explain where you disappeared to last night, huh, Lily?" Lenard suspected. The valiant champion turned to the trainer. "I do apologize for any inconvenience Lily has performed on you." Ash shook his smiling head.

"Nah, she actually helped me with that aura problem," he praised. Lenard smiled at the remark. Ash was ready to calm down, but...

"Isabel?" sounded Melissa. All turned to view the priestess/adventurer waking up. "What's going on? Who are they?" Isabel, the other priestess, grinned at her fellow maiden.

"Oh good morning, Melissa," she teased. "I don't know if anyone's told you but I had my revelation to find a valiant champion. I'm proud to introduce the champion that will trounce your combustible loser, Louie: Mr. Lenard." Ouch! If Louie was around, he'd be offended by it. Melissa awed at Lenard, seemingly jealous that Isabel received someone she desired instead of a goofy screw-up like she currently had. From all she figured, she could have had Ash at about twice his current age, Brock in a few years or even Junpei now. Why, oh why did fate choose the buffoon?

"My god..." What could she do? Pout, whine, argue, what?

"Don't tell me that Jenny's faith in your champion has become doubtful." It seemed to be. Then came something out of left field... _WAY _far from left field.

"Someone say Jenny?" excited Brock as he emerged from the hut wearing an apron. "Where? Where?" Finally, he raced off in search for...who, now? "I'm coming, Officer Jenny!" Once he vanished, everyone began to scratch their heads in a figurative manner, except for Ash. He was literal.

"That was random," Joan coughed. After straightening out, everyone was inside where Brock was very disappointed. No Officer Jenny in the vicinity. Isabel's troupe was introduced to the trainers, Pokémon and hunters. Junpei and the balding man shared mean looks, a challenge possibly in the close future. Dawn and Celcia shared nervous ones at the sight.

"I don't know which is scarier: Junpei and Jakinson, or Mike's turret?" she stuttered. Celcia couldn't decide. It was rather fascinating that Louie's team could befriend an elf in Isabel's eyes.

"Mr. Junpei," Jakinson called. "I don't know if you're aware but in a week in a town three days away, there's a martial arts tournament held there. As someone who claims to be a six-time world martial arts champion, this may be right up your road." A tournament for Junpei? Junpei dug his finger into his ear to remove any wax, a motion that he didn't mishear him.

"You say a tournament?" he repeated. He heard right.

"If you are a six-time champion, you should have no problem with a healthy amount of prize money available for total victory. Isabel is willing to enter Mr. Lenard into the contest." All turned to the young and noble looking champion who wasn't deterred with the glares.

"I may not appear to be strong, but I am trained in numerous styles of combat," he admitted. Cynthia seemed humbled with the confession of Lenard. She could wish Ash was a bit more honest... Hold on! Where's Ash? He wasn't with the rest.

"I think that thick-headed chumpion of Melissa's should also be in the tournament," Anna teased. "Did you hear about how he defeated Conrad at the coliseum?" The same way Ash defeated Conrad?

"I did, and it may be the only moment that influenced me that Louie was the right choice for Melissa," Isabel sneered. Brock and Dawn were interested with the story of Louie's victory over Conrad.

"I'd like to hear about Louie winning," Dawn chirped. Melissa became ashamed that an embarrassing story was about to be told. Still, Pikachu and Piplup were eager about the tale. Meanwhile, Ash was in the tavern with the man in question with a classmate chowing down on meat, potatoes and salads.

"It's kinda funny that you have these redheads following you," Louie scoffed. "I mean Ritsuko, Gannet, Lily...maybe Ila if she was a few years younger." Ila wasn't appreciating the tone from her classmate.

"Louie, don't put me in the same place as the two you just mentioned," she snapped. Then she sighed, wondering if maybe Louie had a point. "Although, after hearing how Ash crumbled Conrad, I'm not sure that I'm in a place to argue. I'd admire him for the young complexion disguising the cunning brave persona caged within." Ash let out an even bigger sigh, Ila's point not helping matters.

"Misty, Zoey, Calista..." he began to list. "How in the world did I become a redhead magnet?" Only redheads?

"I wish I could answer that full front." There seemed to be little hope for Ash and his constant female folly film. Before Ash could fluster another sigh...

"So this is where you hang out after classes, isn't it, Mr. Louie?" an older man grumbled. "Ms. Ila?" The trio heard and twisted to see a silver-haired man with such a dorky down style. However, it seemed to freak Louie out of his pants.

"M-Master Foltess!" he loudly stuttered. "W-What b-brings you here?" This was Louie's master? Foltess sat down next to Ash, making him a little uneasy. He turned to face the bar.

"Waiter, just some mineral water. That will be all." Easy order to make. "So, if you don't mind, I'd like to join in this conversation. I believe the discussion revolves around this youngster." He was paying attention.

"As silly as it sounds," Ash began. "I'm not sure why redheaded females seem to come after me." This began to make Foltess ponder...if his problem had meaning.

"There's nothing wrong with having a redhead for a girlfriend. Hell, Ms. Ila would be suited for you than she is with Mr. Louie." That outraged his students.

"Hey!" they yelled in protest.

"Simmer down, you two. I've had worse disruptive students in my classroom. Didn't really last a month in my teachings." No need to overreact. "I should ask, young fella. Is it only redheads? It's not brunettes or blondes?" Ash was positive on redheads.

"Two examples would be Gannet, the priestess in training and Lily," he briefly listed. Foltess seemed to know Lily. His hum triggered the older two to pay attention.

"Lily, huh? That name sounds familiar. Maybe her caretaker, Lord Dardanel might know what she's doing. However, your dilemma is nothing to show concern." It was a problem that Foltess scoffed. That's when Ila had a plan to have Ash seek help.

"There's something else that may need caution," she spoke up. "Yesterday after he and his friends investigated reports of a lake creature that was causing havoc, Ash was emitting aura from his hand which didn't cease. I put a limiter bracelet on which helped stop the glow and I'm not sure how long Lily's spell will last." This made Foltess' awareness heighten.

"Aura, you say? That's a whole different story." This could be the turning point that Ash could use. "I'm not very familiar with the term of aura. I'll need to do research on it. Further more if it isn't too much of a burden, I'll have Ash stay with you in the school dorm. That way, I can further study the potency of this aura." Louie and Ila hesitated on a decision to allow Ash to join them inside their dorm. They were about to get help on a choice.

"How was class, Louie?" sounded Airi. The group's ears heard the actress and turned to her.

"Miss Airi, what brings you here?" Louie questioned. She sat down at an adjacent table and backwards of how someone _normally_ sits.

"Being the messenger on Melissa's behalf. Another priestess with a champion has issued a challenge at a town some ways away in a week." Louie rose an eyebrow, wondering if this allegation was factual?

"Why would a priestess want to challenge me? Something doesn't make sense." He probably wondered if it's a magical battle...one he would lose by a landslide. That's when Ila remembered something that happened yesterday.

"Now that you mentioned it, I heard that a priestess received her revelation," she backtracked. "In turn, she's met her valiant champion and issued a challenge to see which champion is better." Louie started to understand. Champion vs. Champion...with another Champion watching.

"The challenge is a martial arts tournament," Airi informed. "It won't be for another week but our tan- I mean steel chariot could get us to the location within a day." Since when was Mike declared a medieval taxi service? It was interesting enough for Airi to avoid calling it a tank. To Ila, this muscular magician could use some of that aggression for his failing magic.

"This is perfect for you, Louie!" Louie wasn't too thrilled about being challenged to a battle with another valiant champion. "Not only that, but there's a huge amount of money for the victor of the tournament to go along with a crystal trophy." A trophy made of crystal, huh? That's definitely a large cash amount. "So, what do you say?" Louie...wasn't sure what to say.

"There are times like these that I wish I _wasn't_ a valiant champion," he groaned in fluster.

"Perhaps if you didn't decide to run from the royal guards, all you'd be worrying about is a failing grade," Foltess addressed. Louie hated to speak of his defeat and just continued to groan.

"It may also be a chance to see if any of the Lake Trio's around," Ash pondered. Louie and Ila wondered if, by means, Ash thought either Mesprit or Azelf may be there.

"You're not gonna come with, Ash?" Ila gulped. Ash thumbed Foltess as a reminder.

"I'm gonna be his experiment for the time you're gone." Sighing, Louie and Ila weren't sure what to tell Dawn, Brock, Cynthia or Pikachu about Ash being under the watchful eye of Louie's teacher.

"Suit yourself," Louie huffed. "You sure he'll be okay with you around?" Foltess nodded. Ila paid the tab and the two duos split to their next trips. As Ash was guided to Louie's dorm, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Spiky sky blue hair on a man. He began to wonder if it's who caused this mess in the first place. A line of people walked by...but he disappeared in the crowd.

"Cyrus?"Was it the leader of Team Galactic? Ash kept watching the spot, thinking he spotted the man responsible for removing him from the Pokémon world. Was it?

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...


	8. Mesprit Situations, Part 1

_Chapter 8: Mesprit Situations, Part 1

* * *

_

Leaving Ash with Foltess and Celcia to tend the home, the adventurers, hunters and trainers were on Mike to a tournament held in a town a few days away by foot...but only hours upon the meowing steel chariot. Junpei, Airi, Ritsuko, Dawn, Cynthia, Brock, Pikachu, Piplup, Louie, Melissa, Jeanie, Ila and Merrill left Ohfun to attend this tournament thanks to a challenge by Melissa's rival, Isabelle. Ash was left behind for Foltess to monitor the aura output which was a factor during their rescue of Uxie. This was a moment to get away...and for Junpei to compete in this tournament for his reputation as the six-time martial arts champion. "I still feel bothered with this whole experience," Louie murmured. "Why go out of the way to offer a challenge? It seems pointless." Airi was quick to respond with Louie's complaint.

"Perhaps to you, but you forget that you now have a reputation on the line," she pointed out. "My the mighty assignment of Mylee, you and Melissa were meant to work together, despite being a bungling fool you are." Louie grumbled at the seemingly always right Hollywood actress. Ila chose to extend the subject.

"Besides, I would like for you to win the Crystal Eagle," she requested. What's this about a Crystal Eagle?

"The Crystal Eagle?" Dawn repeated. "What's that?" Seemed like a valuable item. Was it an eagle with wings made out of crystals?

"It's a statue that my father tried to get but ended up being outbid by Velasquez. Now, he's holding a tournament as his auction to retrieve the best fighter." Quite a bargain. Not everyone was really interested in the value of the Crystal Eagle. Meantime at the Magicians' Guild, Ash was trying to draw out his aura once again to demonstrate the power in front of Foltess. However hard he tried, nothing was showing up.

"I'm not sure if your credibility of having this aura is worth watching," Foltess argued impatiently. Ash couldn't help that his aura was firmly sealed by Lily.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "If Lily hadn't put this seal on me..." Hearing the name and what she did, Foltess grabbed his wooden club-like wand.

"Why didn't you say that to begin with? I can release that seal in a jiffy. Hands out now." Ash extended his arms to Foltess. Muttering a few words, his wand began to glow blue then Ash's arms. A couple of seconds later, the glow burst to pieces. Foltess seemed satisfied. "Try it now." Seal had to be broken for him to be this confident. Ash tried again. This time, the glow on his arms relighted. "So, this is the aura. Intriguing." Ash wasn't too sure about allowing Foltess to see his aura in display.

"Are you sure that this is okay?" Foltess was feeling pretty confident.

"Don't get the wrong idea. This is the first time that I've witnessed aura so I'm unaware of the capabilities it attains."

"Neither do I. I didn't really want to know and move on to being a great trainer."

"Then it's a good thing I've set a dummy for you to foresee what it can do." He pointed to a straw dummy hung on a pole. To Ash, Foltess wanted to punch this dummy to measure the power of the aura. Ash smiled like he knew what was coming.

"Then it's a good thing I did a little boxing prior to the start of my journeys." Ash lined himself up to the dummy. Glowing hands set, he faced the dummy when suddenly an image appeared in his eyes. A violet-haired young man's head scowled back at him. This angered him and he raced at the dummy. He fired a vicious right. The punch didn't just deck the dummy...it was shot like Mike's cannon provided he had ammo in the turret. The blast was so fierce, it punched a big hole in the wall leading to a room full of desks. A classroom? Foltess was shocked. Was it _his _classroom that has a new window...or was he just dumbfounded with the increased strength Ash's aura expended? His stunned stare jarred his glasses loose. Ash was as equally stunned. "I didn't...mean to do that." Foltess wasn't too sure of agreeing or not. He was just too befuddled to make some sound. Meantime, the others found a place to lodge for the tournament. Dawn was reading the guidelines for the tournament.

"This is straight on, street fighting combat," she informed. "Only uses of body parts are legal. There will be no wearing of armor, weapons and magical items/spells permitted to avoid one side gaining an advantage. In addition, anyone interfering with these contests will ensue a lifetime ban and the fighter (s)he helped will be disqualified." The rules sounded rather strict. Junpei knew that he'd have no problem with the rules...but did have a question about it.

"The rules sound easy to understand but will they see these as illegal?" he questioned the gloves on his hands.

"Probably not," Merrill doubted. "But I wouldn't hold my breath over it." Junpei's gauntlets could pass inspection but only time will tell. That's when Louie realized that Jeanie was a possible entry to the tournament.

"Jeanie, you've got some fighting prowess," he pointed out to her. "Why not enter in the tournament yourself?" Jeanie snorted the idea. She wasn't wanting any of it.

"I'm a mercenary, not a fighter," she hissed. "Don't get me involved in anything that has no merit." There's one who hated hand-to-hand combat. "If there was a sword-fighting title on the line, maybe." For a mercenary, she lived a dull life...mostly. Well, here came a boost of confidence.

"Oh, Jeanie, doth thou hath fear amongst battling man?" voiced...Conrad? Melissa began to freak out from the voice. All turned to the handsome knight. "Do not worry for I, Conrad, the handsome knight of Ramliearth, will be triumphant in the Velazquez Tournament." That's the voice of real confidence...followed by a voice of doubt.

"I don't know if you're aware, but-" Brock started before Conrad waived him off.

"I've heard indeed. Some of the toughest fighters will be on display but worry not. I shall vanquish them all to earn the hand of my sweet priestess, Melissa." Melissa became more and more flustered with every evasive comment.

"Well, yeah. But-"

"Need speak not another word! The Crystal Eagle will be mine to bequeath. I bid you adieu." Conrad left, making sure he got his point across. Brock was now able to say his word.

"I meant to say that his armor and sword won't get through customs in entering the tournament." Too late now and it didn't help that Conrad wouldn't let Brock speak a word in edgewise.

"If Conrad does win the tournament," Jeanie began. "And that is a big IF, will you finally marry him?" Odds never looked worse for Conrad despite the cocky attitude he had.

"I'd rather bite my tongue off and bleed to death than marry someone like him!" she refused venomously.

"Conrad sort of reminds us of Ash with the attitude and confidence," Airi pointed out. "It's rather odd that instead of him going to one girl, he has a few, namely from the Mylee Shrine that come after him." Louie was surprised to hear about the junior priestesses falling for an outsider like Ash.

"Are they the same priestesses who despise me?" Louie wondered. Melissa wasn't sure whether to agree or not. Airi would help with the ruling.

"They were." Louie felt ashamed that these girls who were going after Ash were the ones who berated him. Someone was there to show a little sympathy.

"There are more women who could be in love with you, Louie," sounded Lenard. The group turned to the new arrivals of Lenard, Lily, Isabel and Jakinson. "You just need to understand respect." The new group joined the three-team union.

"It's a pleasure to meet Melissa's valiant champion," Isabel said. "I have to say, your muscular core woefully disguises the fact that you're really a magician." Was that a flirt for his build or an insult on his lack of magic skills? Ila was taken back by the news that this was the new valiant champion.

"You're the new face on the block?" she awed. "How long ago?"

"Just a few days but we did establish team chemistry," Lenard answered. They have their group down, unlike Louie's team. "And I've heard that there's been some poor results with your group." That infuriated Louie as he rose from his seat in anger.

"I'll show you poor, pretty boy!" he roared as he lunged at Lenard. It nearly took everyone from Junpei to Piplup to restrain him. Lenard didn't flinch.

"If you want, I can help you with your group." That made Louie...and everyone else stop to listen. Lily had doubts. She had to have heard of Louie's screw ups.

"Impossible," she negatively simplified. Harsh for a little girl. Lenard disagreed.

"No, it's very possible. The question becomes, will they listen?" That would be a very unique task for the adventurers with the hunters and trainers also tuning in. Maybe Cynthia could let Ash in on a few secrets of team chemistry.

"If there's someone who knows about team chemistry, it's my protege," she suggested. If Cynthia _did_ mean Ash, one, he's already a great trainer and two, it had to bite that he's not with the group.

"A protege, Miss Cynthia?" Jakinson questioned. Cynthia just smiled, not letting out who. Meanwhile, it's been a few days with Foltess and Ash was wiped. However, instead of the dorm that Louie and Ila loaned him, Ash scuttled back to the hut where Celcia and Uxie were bored. Couldn't she just stroll to the village deep in the forest? She _is_ an elf. Hearing the door open, Uxie flew to the entrance and spotting Ash. Uxie was a little disappointed that he wasn't Brock.

"Hey, Uxie," he greeted. "You've been good with Celcia?" Uxie chimed to confirm Ash's question. Celcia was rather surprised that he came back instead of staying in the dorms.

"This is unexpected," she muttered. "What's up at the dorm that you don't like?" Ash whipped a bag full of books onto the table and organized them a little bit.

"It's not that I don't like the room. I borrowed some of Ila's books to see if you understand what they read." Celcia opened a book...and realized that these characters were not in English...yet Celcia managed to understand it.

"The script is an ancient language that I can still read. But they do contain-" Before Celcia could finish, there was a scream from outside. The three got to the front where Gannet was held by her neck inside the arm of a turquoise spiky-haired man with a large knife, a foot long with some blood on the blade. Was Gannet stabbed? Ash saw that same guy, thinking it was Cyrus.

"I should have known!" So that _was_ Cyrus?

"I sought a world free of the confines of emotions," he stated. "Free of pain. Free of pleasure. Free sadness and happiness! It's because of you and that Master that I ended up here instead of my own universe!" Ash seethed at the retort Cyrus took.

"So you go off and kill some elves and kidnap a junior priestess to exact your revenge?"

"Wrong. They were all in my way. Now I desire the Lake Trio once more to find Dialga and Palkia to rid this universe of emotion and create a new." Think Ash was hissing at Cyrus' distasteful reply?

"No one, not even you, can live without emotions," Celcia backed Ash. "You destroy a universe, you destroy yourself!"

"On the contrary. Everyone will cease to exist but I will be eternally living. Disagree all you want, it won't matter in the end." Ash and Celcia had enough of his god complex he was trying to speak of.

"You should understand the content of contrary. You've already dug your own grave. NOW!" Without warning, a huge tremor began to shake under Cyrus and Gannet. Cyrus started to lose his grip on the young priestess as Monferno emerged from below. It was a trap. Losing balance and footing, Cyrus was watching his moment fail once more. Ash raced in to rescue Gannet with a diving leap. Gannet freed an arm and reached out, where Ash snagged her and reeled her in. Cyrus made a lunge with the knife. It missed Gannet but nailed Ash in the stomach. He felt the excruciating pain but held together long enough to clear Gannet who's gown was stained too. Ash and Gannet rolled a little bit before stopping. Cyrus hit the bottom of the pit with a painful thud. He was out. Gannet held her stomach, gushing blood of her own. She was feeling pretty weak from the blood loss. Her vision blurred from time to time. Ash cringed at the pain from the stab. Celcia, Monferno and Uxie looked on in fear of the fate that may have sealed Ash. Reaching Ash, she knew the situation was severe. Two stab wounds, one on each. That's when she remembered Ash's Pokémon. Reaching, she brought out Buizel, Staraptor and a green armadillo-like creature with bushes on it's back.

"I need your help getting Ash and her inside," she instructed. The Pokémon gazed at Ash and began to panic. Ash was hurt. Gannet was hurt. They needed medical attention...and fast.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...

(A/N: Congratulations to the Green Bay Packers for their Super Bowl XLV victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers to win their 13th World Championship. GO PACK GO!)


	9. Mesprit Situations, Part 2

_Chapter 9: Mesprit Situations, Part 2

* * *

_

"Welcome to the 25th annual Velasquez Ultimate Street Rumble!" announced a man on the brown turf bellowed to the sold out audience that filled the grand stands of the stadium. The crowd cheered in a frenzy, waiting for bones to be broken, blood to be spilled and victories dashed. Jeanie, Melissa, Dawn, Cynthia, Ila, Ritsuko, Airi, Brock, Pikachu and Piplup were in the stands ready to watch two of their comrades compete: Louie and Junpei.

"The arena's in a fever pitch this morning," Jeanie murmured, nearly muted by the noise the stands provided. The announcer was surrounded with all sorts of men, some with serious beefcake, others lean and mean. There were the two men working on their jabs. Louie was blocking some of Junpei's soft punches. They're holding back for when the real action begins.

"Louie and Junpei seem eager for the tournament to start," Dawn noticed. As they looked, they spotted Louie's challenger. Lenard was stretching out with Jakinson, loosening up for his battles.

"And with Lenard present, Isabel's troupe is close by," Airi figured. Sure enough, hooting calls from Isabel were so loud, the crowd practically drowned in volume. She's cheering for her man.

"Is she a priestess or a boombox?" Ritsuko gulped. Dawn sighed at the overwhelming screams from Isabel. Anyway, where's Merrill?

"I told Merrill about three of the fighters that may pose the biggest challenges," Jeanie explained. She and Cynthia viewed the bruisers, eying a balding man with a messy goatee and a rather husky build. Next, a bald skinny man in a purple pair of slacks. He showed off his hand quickness. Lastly, a large man who bore a mask over his face. "If any, if not all of those three aren't knocked out in the early stages, they could prove difficult." Cynthia kind of wished Ash was here to help support both Louie and Junpei. It also made her think that Merrill was up to something involving these fights.

"You can bet she's trying to make Louie feel like the underdog," she theorized. Now, there's a question on who's more intelligent: Airi or Cynthia? The actress or the master? Merrill had a crowd around her and a sign of heads, including Louie and Junpei.

"Place your bets!" she chanted. "These five fighters are amongst the best in this year's Rumble." That's all she needed to rake in the gold. She's playing bookie.

"I'm putting my gold all on Louie," one man wagered. Plenty of people were going for Louie, making Merrill a bit uneasy.

"Besides, what's so special about that guy?" another man questioned as he pointed to Junpei's mug. That got Merrill to grin. This was the moment she waited for.

"Well, _this _guy is a self-proclaimed six-time world martial arts champion," she answered. "Now you can believe it or not, but he's got more muscles than Louie. What do you say to that?" This made changes on betting from Louie to Junpei. Meanwhile, Ash was stirring but in extraordinary pain. He was stabbed last night by Cyrus on verge of saving Gannet. Celcia was now with Anna and Joan surrounding Gannet. Excruciating, Ash got up, alerting his Pokémon to catch him from falling. The bandage on his side was heavily red, stained with blood. Joan broke away and got to him being held up by Monferno and the shell back creature.

"Ash, don't move!" Joan reacted as she hoisted Ash to stand. "Your wound!" Ash wasn't concerned about the wound. He was worried about Gannet. He begrudgingly stepped closer and astonished everyone...except the unconscious Gannet. There was a bad gash on her waist. She needed medical help.

"How is she?" he weakly murmured.

"Not good," Anna answered. "That knife wound's pretty deep and I think it struck an organ." Ash saw the sweat of panic and knew she needed to be helped. Fighting the pain from his wound, Ash wanted to help Gannet. The determination to fight and aid summoned his aura in his hands, spooking the girls. They never saw aura before.

"Let's get to work. Celcia, I'd like you to mortar some of Grotle's leaves." Celcia was rather surprised with Ash's quick decision on assigning positions. "Grotle, do Energy Ball but swallow it." Grotle wasn't sure what Ash had planned but trusting his master, he began to form an orb of green energy in front of his mouth. Suddenly, he gulped the orb and the bushes on it's back began to shimmer in a glorious green light. This amused Celcia who snatched a pair of shears. Carefully, she snipped several blades of the glowing bush. "Buizel, I need your Water Gun into the wound, but don't fire it hard." Buizel came forward and fired a slow stream of water into the opening. Joan had to think that Ash wanted to clean the wound before performing the operation. "Good." The trainer was ready to save Gannet's life. Meanwhile, the first match of the Velasquez Street Rumble was set.

"From the east gate, the local favorite, Bartcher!" the man with the bullhorn roared. From one of the gates, the balding man with the goatee emerged. That was one of the fighters that concerned Jeanie. "And his opponent from the west gate, the handsome knight of Ramliearth, Conrad!" Uh oh! Conrad emerged, still in armor and with a sword by his side. He waived to the crowd but not for long. Two big brutes surrounded Conrad.

"No, stop!" he cried out as the two lifted and flipped him upside-down and shook him down. All sorts of items fell out of the armor. Talk about armed to the teeth for a hands-only tournament. "No one said that magical items were prohibited in the Street Rumble!" That's not all. One of the brutes pulled Conrad from his steel shell being held by the other. Conrad was now exposed. The only thing protected his unmentionables from sight was his underwear...but how could that help someone who was as skinny as Dawn's fingers with no muscular build? His scrawny body was also as white as a ghost. Wow...this can't get anymore embarrassing, can it? "And the armor is the symbol of a ravishing and courageous knight that shouldn't be removed!" Brock decided to allow Conrad some information and leaned down to tell him.

"That's what's stated in the rulebook," he muttered. Conrad acted victimized from his callous disbelief of the rules, feeling like he was cheated out.

"Why didn't you advise me of this?"

"You never let me say anything in edgewise." There's your answer. Talk about jumping the gun on a few shoo offs. It only got _way_ worse. Here came Bartcher!

"Prepare for a long trip back to the clinic!" he grinned. Conrad had to think up something quick. He had an idea. Using words to bail himself out. Good luck!

"Lemme guess," he snapped a solution. "You're a big brute on the outside but you're a softy who seeks friendship from all who've stood up for justice and respect to the royal knights of Ramliearth, right?" Bartcher's response? An uppercut which sent Conrad clear out of the stadium. That was embarrassing altogether.

"I'm surprised he even tried to defy the rules to begin with," Dawn gulped. As Bartcher walked away, all were thinking how much of an idiot Conrad was in entering the stadium. No doubt he won't get his items back. Meantime, Ash had finished applying the solution to the wound in Gannet and was ready to close up. Surprising that Ash wasn't phased by Gannet's developed chest and possibly because Gannet's hills were covered by her white silky bra, he pulled his hands out of her, covered in blood.

"Okay, that went well," he sighed. "Looks like the energy leaf solution's working. Let's close her up." This was good but Ash still suffered from his wound. Anna spotted the wound on Ash and saw blood seeping out from the bandage. Weakening from the loss of blood, Ash had to finish this operation. He grabbed a needle and thread, ready to sew the wound close. "Staraptor, I need you to pinch the sides for me." He used his Pokémon well. He didn't need Pikachu, right? Staraptor carefully used its beak to clamp onto the flaps of Gannet's skin as the other priestesses and elf watched in awe. "We're almost done." Careful... Ash began to thread the needle through the skin from one side to the other over and over again until he reached Staraptor. He switched to the other side and sewed that side shut. "You can let go." Staraptor released the skin which opened a bit. Ash was fast and completed the suturing. He was at his limit and began to lose his footing. Anna and Celcia were there to catch him before he hurt himself.

"You can rest, Ash," Celcia reassured. "Let us bandage her." Ash wanted to finish his work but even he felt that he needed to relax. Joan and Uxie helped Ash get back on his feet before escorting him back to his bed.

"Let me change those bandages," she offered. She peeled the bandages off of Ash where it revealed that it was a bit scorched. It barely did a dent because blood was draining from him. There was some extra solution for Ash as Joan spread it on the wound. It stung Ash but it was a sign that it was working. Anna finished aiding Gannet. Finally, everyone could breathe a sigh of relief.

"Buizel, Monferno, Staraptor, Grotle, thank you," Anna praised. The creatures cheered that their aid was useful. Ash huffed a chuckle for her approval but grimaced a bit from the pain.

"I think the bigger praise should go to Brock," he confessed. "He did teach me first-aid." Ash, that wasn't first-aid, that was a full blown operation. That's when he remembered about how he and Gannet were injured. "By the way, what happened to Cyrus?" Celcia had to have been treating both members so she would've seen something, right?

"When we saw that man capture Gannet, we asked for help from our royal guardsmen and Priestess Jenny," Joan explained. "It's when we found Loser Louie's hut and you and Gannet sprawled in a puddle of blood, we also found the kidnapper in a giant hole."

"We excavated the kidnapper from the hole and had him arrested," Anna continued. "When Celcia told us about how you were able to separate them, we couldn't hold ourselves back in treating your wound." In a sense, they were helping Ash because he helped Gannet. Fair trade. Cyrus was no longer a threat and it meant that all the trainers would need to think about was finding the other two of the Lake Trio and get home.

"Any chance you can slap two counts of murder as well on him?" Anna and Joan were rather mystified about this request...but it was clear on Celcia's face.

"He killed a couple of guards for fun," she illustrated. That's enough to scare the junior priestesses...and realize why Ash went to great lengths in stopping him. While they ponder that out, back at the Street Rumble, Merrill was making her way back to the grandstands with a giant bag full of gold. She's quite the swindler. As she walked through a hallway of doors, there was one that was crept open. Curiosity sent her to the door. Two silhouettes were the only things seen.

"I have no doubt we'll make it to the finals," one man grinned.

"Yeah and the finals will be the last match Velazquez will ever see," the other cackled. "That fat bastard won't know what hit him."

"Remember, if our timing is slightly off, Velazquez will know it and we abort the mission." There's an assassination plot stirring and Merrill was in on their plan. She realized that the host may be roast before anyone notices. However, her goose was about to be cooked. One step back accidentally kicked the gold. The rattle of money alerted the two in the darkened room. "Who's there?" Merrill was about to be found out and ran with the money. Outside, she searched for a place to hide until they left. Maybe this little wall should be a good hiding spot. She jumped in...and fell. When she hit bottom was when she realized that she fell into a well. The silhouettes peered in the well and didn't see anything. Maybe it was their imagination. "Where did that eavesdropper go?"

"Never mind, we need to prepare for our match." The silhouettes escaped, leaving Merrill in the dry well. Feeling the coast was clear, she tried to climb up the wall. Problem: too slick. Merrill fell back to the bottom, landing butt first. That's a tailbone injury. She got up and peered at the moss growing inside.

"The walls are too mossy to get a good grip on," she theorized. "It's a long shot but..." She had a plan? "HELLO! ANYONE HEAR ME!" She called for help from inside the well, hoping her screams would catch attention. Pikachu heard her screams, his ears twitching to the pitch. Looking to the direction of the sound, Pikachu raced off. Five minutes later, Pikachu reached the well and peeked inside. Merrill was ecstatic to see Pikachu, knowing that help was here. "Pikachu, down here!"

("Merrill?") he gawked. ("How did you get down there?")

"Listen, I need to get out of here but there's an assassination ploy afoot!" That startled Pikachu. Knowing that there's an attempt at taking out someone in the arena, Pikachu had to do something.

("Hang on! I'll bring help!")

"Hurry!" Pikachu nodded before running back to the rest. With an assassination plan, time may be running out for one person in the arena. Can Pikachu save Velazquez before an assassin ends his life?

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...


	10. Mesprit Situations, Part 3

_Chapter 10: Mesprit Situations, Part 3_

* * *

Already, there were turns for the worst. An assassination ploy was discovered by Merrill. Pikachu raced out to find his friends and advise them of the assassination threatening the life of Velasquez. The Velasquez Street Rumble has been nothing less than exciting as each participant were on the wrong ends of Junpei and Louie's wrath. Round after round, the two fighters scored victories with knockouts a plenty. Lenard didn't fair too well. During his first round match against the bald guy Jeanie questioned would be a threat to the other two, he spat something into Lenard's eyes. Blinded, Lenard was at the mercy of the opponent. Jakinson stepped in and saved Lenard from harm. However, it cost Lenard a chance to advance as he was disqualified due to the 3rd party interference. The crowd was amazed with the prowess of the martial artist and the flunking magician. Speaking of the magician, Louie was fighting the bald man who defeated Lenard who was showing some fleet footwork...but none of the kicks were landing. Fed up, Louie caught a kick. "Louie Punch!" he shouted as he connected a devastating right cross to the cheek. The bald man flew all the way to the wall and left a depression in the concrete. The bald man was out cold. Louie rose his winning arm in victory.

"And down goes Chin Fang!" the announcer roared. "Louie has advanced to the semifinals! He'll join Junpei, Bartcher and the Masked Brawler after an hour break!" All of the ladies deserved a break. Oh, yeah. Brock, too. Brock stood up and began to walk off to relieve himself of the excitement. He was about to walk into a bigger moment.

("Brock, I need help!") sounded Pikachu as he rushed over to him. Brock spotted the panicking Pokémon.

"Pikachu, what's wrong?" Brock wondered. Pikachu's first concern was Merrill.

("Merrill's stuck in a well back there!") Brock learned from the many quick body gestures that something was amiss. He raced ahead to the well as Pikachu pursued the girls. Reaching, he started the same gestures about the assassination plot.

"What's wrong, Pikachu?" Dawn wondered. Pikachu acted like Ritsuko with a gun, a motion of trying to kill someone. Airi listened and realized what's going on.

"There seems to be a plot for a big murder somewhere here," she studied as she turned to Velasquez sitting at his throne. "And he appears to be the target." Gasps from the girls and Piplup sounded trouble coming.

"Why would someone want to kill Velasquez?" Ila questioned. A quick thought to Cynthia was the prize of the Street Rumble.

"Perhaps it's the Crystal Eagle," she guessed. "You know how much that's worth in the black market." Perhaps but right now, Velasquez needed protection.

"Whatever the reason, he needs to be kept alive," Jeanie prioritized. "Ritsuko, you have something that can hit a target from a distance?"

"Yeah, my rifle with the scope option," Ritsuko offered. "I can go and get it." Jeanie nodded to the offer.

"Excellent. Make sure you set up somewhere along the rim of the coliseum. Cynthia and I will warn Velasquez about the plot." Ritsuko was ready to help out the matter. No innocent man was about to die on her watch.

"I'm coming with you," Dawn offered her support. Ritsuko accepted as they bolted for Mike as Jeanie and Cynthia raced for Velasquez. That left Melissa and Airi with the Pokémon. Meanwhile, Merrill was still trying to figure out how to get out of that well with the money. She wouldn't need to wait long.

"Merrill!" Brock called down. Merrill peered up and saw the spiky hair of the breeder.

"Brock!" she cried up. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes and throat!" Yeah, Merrill's voice was getting rather horsed. "The walls are too mossy and I can't get out!"

"Don't worry! I'm gonna lower a rope for you!" Brock inched a rope down. A minute later and Brock's line had ended. Looking down, he saw the rope was not long enough for Merrill to reach. It was about three feet short.

"Brock, it's too short!" Now what? Brock reached to his back and grabbed one of his balls. Instead of opening the tiny sphere, he dropped it down to the trapped thief who caught it.

"Press the button and toss it up!" Merrill listened, hit the button and softly tossed it to the sky. When the ball opened, Happiny emerged. Okay, dumb question: what could Happiny do? "Happiny, throw Merrill up here!" That's a little baby Pokémon! How could it-AH! Holding up Merrill by the skirted butt, Happiny was thrilled to throw the thief from that rocky chamber. Merrill flew up at high velocity out of the cavernous well. This was a big surprise for Merrill. Babies were not suppose to be that strong. Finally, she reached the rim of the well where Brock snagged her. "Gotcha!" But the momentum from that "toss" propelled Brock to fly onto his back, allowing Merrill to fall onto him. After a minute, both gazed into each one's eyes, concerned about their health. "You...uh, okay?" Merrill was so red in the face, she was lost in transition. Suddenly, her arms wrapped around his head and pulled it down. Whoa... Merrill began to smother Brock with her affection. Was this her way of thanking him? Meanwhile back at the hut, Ash was beginning to awaken from his nap. Waiting by his bed were a couple concerned girls, the littlest priestess and the elf-hunting elf. Anna, Celcia and Uxie witnessed the eyes coming to shine.

"Hey, Ash!" Anna chirped. "How are you feeling?" Ash was careful not to aggravate any of the muscles and body still aching after Cyrus tried to kill two children, Ash and Gannet. Ash performed emergency surgery and gutted his way to repairing the wounded organs of Gannet while wounded himself. When he rose to a seating position, he felt very little pain if any. It's as if Cyrus' attack never happened. It had to, why else was there bloodstains on the mattress and sheets?

"I'm...okay?" he acted bewildered. He even sounded different. He clasped his throat to make sure he was fine. "What happened to my voice? I hadn't had it since returning from Hoenn." Celcia began to scratch her elven ears. She did something to Ash that she's regretting.

"Since you brought the books and me reading them, I conjured a spell which...uh," she fidgeted. "Well..." Come on, Celcia, out with it. Anna offered to explain what Celcia struggled with.

"She tried to do a spell on your Monferno to see about understanding your Pokémon but her aim was a little off," she tried not to joke about the mistake. "She did manage to seal your wounds so you should be fine." Ash was moving around like normal. A good sign. His concern was then focused on Gannet.

"What about Gannet?" he asked. One look to the other bed showed Monferno, Grotle and Joan watching over Gannet's slumbered body. She was...smiling. That's a good sign.

"Yeah, her wounds too." Effortlessly, Ash exited out of bed to meet up with Gannet. Joan and Monferno were worried about any injuries he suffered to re-aggravate. Once arriving, he spotted a hand sticking out of the blanket. Ash clasped her hand, non-vocally telling her that if she could feel him to squeeze his hand. The hand weakly clenched his. Could she be waking up? Yes. The eyelids of the redhead priestess-in-training were splitting apart to see the person who saved her from Cyrus and did an emergency operation to repair the damage done. One look over to Ash and she knew she was in safe in Ash's watch.

"A-Ash..." she murmured.

"It's okay," he muttered soft words. "You're safe." Gannet was more startled that Ash was holding her hand than she was about his new...or his old voice. Feeling no pain, Gannet sat up. She had something to get off her...bra. She dove onto Ash, thankful that she's alive.

"Ash, please! I wanna stay with you!" Ash was taken aback with Gannet's proposal. "I know I should wait for Mylee to give approval. I know I should wait for my revelation. But I've decided and I don't want Mylee to change my mind, even though I follow my God of Battle. I wanna go to your world. I wanna go with you! Please!" Ash felt bounded. This priestess-in-training wanted to forgo following the path Melissa had taken, not seeking revelation from Mylee and willing to go to the Pokémon world...and Those Who Hunt Elves seemed to strikeout again. Ritsuko might not like the scene unfolding back near Ohfun. But could Ash say? Sure, he had his old voice back no thanks to Celcia but that's beside the point. Speaking of, she witnessed this whole experience.

"You know, your god can't make all the decisions for you," she huffed. "Sometimes you gotta let your heart choose the offered path." Talk about understanding the human heart, and that's from an elf. Ash and Gannet understood Celcia, her wisdom far greater than their own together.

"In a sense, your heart's a god of your own," Ash summarized. Interesting point. Gannet huffed a chuckle acknowledging Ash and Celcia's word.

"I guess so," she giggled. "So what do you think?" Ash hesitated a bit. Was he thinking about Dawn now? Cynthia? Lily? Ritsuko? Finally, he smiled. Did he accept Gannet's wish?

"You bet." Words Gannet wanted to hear, not so much Anna and Joan who were cringing with Ash's response. They were about to be even more envious when Gannet and Ash laid lips on each other. These lips have now been claimed by Gannet and she wasn't wanting to release it or him. Celcia and Uxie were proud of the sight.

"Miss Celcia, don't you have a love interest of your own?" Joan wondered. That made Celcia panic a bit. Was there someone the elf had admired? Junpei? Brock? Perhaps Louie.

"D-D-Don't talk about it so hastily!" she roared back. Anna and Joan were about to experience an elven wrath while Ash and Gannet were busy smooching. Back at the arena, Ritsuko and Dawn scavenged through the cache of firearms. Ritsuko's looking for her favorite, it seemed.

"Where is it?" she frantically wondered as she dug through the tank. "Where is it?" All Dawn could do was watch. She's a Pokémon Trainer, not a gun collector.

"Lemme know if you find it," Dawn shrugged off before she walked to the lakeside. She wondered about what her friends were doing back home. Yet she knew there was nothing she could do at the moment. Before she knew what to do next...

"_**Is that you, Dawn?"**_ a voice rang in her ears. Alerted, Dawn spun her head around for the voice.

"Who's there?" There was nothing to see...until something began to protrude from the lake. A black sphere was surfacing and Dawn spotted it. She stepped back, fearing a repeat of what happened before.

"_**Dawn, it's me!" **_The mysterious sphere levitated from the lake and floated to Dawn, a lot slower than Uxie when it was a sphere itself. Ritsuko peered out at Dawn's location, also locating the black sphere. She pulled her handgun from her skirt linen and aimed it at the sphere. Dawn noticed the unusual behavior that the sphere displayed.

"Dawn, move!" Ritsuko shouted. Dawn was so awe-driven, she couldn't get her feet to move. Frozen in fear. "Dawn, move!" Dawn was still not moving but had a feeling that it was someone she knew.

"Mes..." she stuttered. "M-Mesprit?" Suddenly, the sphere dissolved and it looked like Uxie once again, only anything yellow was magenta. It's head looked to have four stretching bulbs sticking out from the middle which had an embedded ruby. However, much like Uxie, it's body was darkened, presumably by the spell Celcia was interrupted on. Still, Dawn had to know. "What happened to you?" The being of Mesprit wasn't too sure about what happened. Ritsuko holstered her piece and joined Dawn and the second of the Lake Trio.

"_**When you tried to stop that bad man from destroying our world, we were marked with this ink," **_it tried to explain. **_"We began to feel this immense burst of energy like nothing we've felt fully rested. Azelf had gain so much confidence with the ink that it abandoned us to go on adventures. Uxie had so much strength that even I was powerless against my brethren. It was then that I realized my Psychic-Type abilities were extremely heightened to easily maintain contact with Uxie and Azelf, advising them to hide until you came to find us." _**So the Lake Trio figured that Ash, Brock, Dawn and Cynthia were here. Never underestimate the power of a Pokémon.

"We did find Uxie and removed the ink from it," Ritsuko pointed out. "Our good friend, Celcia, was trying to me and my friends home when the spell went a rye and somehow ended up on you. You and Uxie have spell fragments of said spell." Mesprit was informed plenty about that ink on its body.

"_**You mean to tell me that Uxie's safe?"**_ A nod confirmed Mesprit's gratefulness.

"There's a hut near the outskirts of Ohfun where she can remove the ink," Dawn informed the pink-headed. Delighted by this news, Mesprit was ready to reunite with an old friend.

"_**This is wonderful! I'll head there right away!" **_Mesprit flew off like a rocket, heading back where the group came from a few chapters back. Meanwhile in the arena, Junpei just tossed Bartcher on his back with a vicious slam. That slam knocked all the wind out of Bartcher, unable to get back on his feet.

"And it's over!" the ring announcer determined. "Junpei will be in the final match against Louie!" The crowd roared in excitement at the contest so far, knowing that a new winner was about to be crowned. Junpei acknowledged the crowd in support. He wasn't aware of the assassination plot that was coming. In Velasquez's box and surrounded by guards, Velasquez was ready to give the Crystal Eagle away. There was one more match. Junpei vs. Louie for the title and a big payout.

"Hold it right there!" A guard yelled out. Velasquez turned to see who's disrupting his good time. Cynthia and Jeanie arrived to warn Velasquez about the assassination on him.

"Please, we're here to warn Velasquez about someone wanting to kill him!" Cynthia pleaded. Guards weren't ready to back down.

"Is that so? Where's the evidence?" These guys weren't going to be sold like that. Evidence...

"We have an eyewitness to it. She can testify that your highness' life is in danger." It seemed like a logical reason. The guard scoffed, almost dismissing this claim.

"I suggest you get back in your seats and watch the battles. You may not see them but we do have plain clothes guards around the stadium. If those guys can spot problems, they're as good as dealt with." Who knew there was undercover guards working as they watched the match. That's when a flicker of light shone in Jeanie's face. Turning, they spotted an orange triangle flag. There were only rectangle flags of various colors so that was out of place...unless it was Dawn and Ritsuko in position. Finally, Junpei and Louie stepped out onto the battleground. The finals were on.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time for the championship battle!" the announcer shouted. "From the east, seemingly and literally out of nowhere, the rumor which we now believe is true, the six-time martial arts champion, Mr. Junpei!" Junpei waived to the crowd who erupted in gradual cheer. "And from the west, member of the Magician's Guild in Ohfun, a rising champion of all, Mr. Louie!" Louie copied Junpei and rose his hand up...with only a few onlookers cheering him on. Flustered, Louie had a pretty good guess at why the crowd supported Junpei and not him.

"She's swindling again," he figured. "Doesn't that flat-chest know when to leave me alone?" No, apparently not. The announcer was ready to get this final contest on course.

"Alright, fighters!" he cheered. "Ready, fight!" The two squared and locked shoulders in the middle of the arena. The crowd roared for blood and they were about to get it. Junpei kicked Louie in the gut and blood spilled out. Louie staggered but regained his footing, wiping the blood seeping from his mouth. Junpei waived him over, a taunt. Falling for it, Louie charged right back at Junpei. Junpei fired an overhand swing but Louie ducked it. He wound up his signature strike.

"Louie Pun-AH!" Junpei caught the Louie Punch with the other hand and twirled a throw. Louie was tossed several feet but landed on his feet. He ain't going down that easily. The two engaged in close combat while a pair of leering eyes spotted Velasquez with all those guards around him.

"Prepare for your death, Velasquez," he sneered. Suddenly, Junpei came towards the metal gate where the eyes were peering from...back first. Louie was starting to get momentum and the crowd became electric. This was a final for all to remember.

"That was a good shot, Louie," Junpei complimented as he got onto steady legs. "At least I know a fighter when I see it. That's when Louie saw a hood. That's the Masked Brawler's hood.

"Hey, Junpei," Louie called for attention and pointed to the hood. Junpei wasn't about to bite on Louie's distraction.

"Nice try!" Junpei raced in with a clothesline attack but Louie rolled under it and snatched the hood. Junpei was willing to try the attack again when he saw the hood, too. "Is that?" It certainly appeared to be.

"Yeah, I think it is." The fighters were puzzled with what Louie's defeated opponent's hood was doing on the arena floor. Since Junpei beat Bartcher, it would make sense that Louie was victorious in stopping the Masked Brawler.

"Die, Velasquez!" a man shouted. Both turned to see a tiny man fly right at Velasquez. That tiny man had a dagger which was bigger than him. Cynthia and Jeanie spotted the guy, hoping that Ritsuko's shot was going to hit the mark. BANG! POW! Ritsuko shot a rubber bullet from her rifle, slamming the alledged assassin to the wall and jarring the dagger from his tinier hands. The assassin was knocked unconscious and one guard secured him. Junpei and Louie were astonished with that shot from the teenage military girl.

"Did Ritsuko kill him?"

"Nope. Rubber bullet or Less Lethal in the US," Junpei corrected. "He'll be out for sometime." Apparently, he wasn't the only one in it.

"Brother!" sounded another man. Both finalists twisted to see the Masked Brawler...without the mask. It was a disfigured man with shark teeth. Junpei and Louie were disgusted with the unmasked man. The two knew what to do.

"This whole time, you're here to take out the host, huh?" Junpei sneered while crackling his knuckles. Louie too.

"How about we take you out instead?" Louie offered. Before Mr. Ugly could react, Junpei scored a roundhouse kick to the man's ginormous gut, then reversed it and tagged him in the back, caroming to Louie. Punch time! "Louie Punch!" KRACK! Louie Punch to the base of the jaw, that had to hurt. The unmasked thing was knocked out, literally from the arena. With that distraction out of the way, both were ready to resume fighting with the crowd rising to their feet in cheer and encouragement.

"Well, shall we continue?"

"Ha, I'm ready for ya!" Both leaped at each other and restarted their bout. What would happen in this championship match? Later that evening, the arena was emptied out. All but the two male fighters, the elf hunters, the female trainers, two of the three adventurers and the Pokémon were left...but what about the Crystal Eagle?

"3rd Party Interference, my ass!" Were one of the two disqualified? "Just because that masked freak decided to pop his frigging head in our fight isn't a valid reason to kick BOTH of us out of the tournament!" The Masked Brawler did disrupt the fight with that attempt on Velasquez. In a sense, he didn't help either of them and both were disqualified due to him.

"Them's the breaks, Junpei," Jeanie murmured. Dawn placed a hand on the upset shoulder a sense of comfort.

"Look at the bright side, you did win gold for best performance," she consoled. So, if both Louie and Junpei were disqualified, who won the Crystal Eagle?

"At least it's up for grabs for next year," Airi advised. Some solace. That meant that despite awarding the DQ'ed finalists for their entertainment, the Crystal Eagle was still in the possession of Velasquez.

"And Bartcher's gonna use the winnings for being the only 'clean' fighter who won by default to spruce up his favorite watering hole," Ila informed.

"Besides, all that's left for us is returning back to Ohfun," Cynthia suggested. It's the only option for the heroes now.

"I suppose," Louie decided. "Besides, I bet Ash completely gutted out Foltess' classroom and Merrill's already counted the gold she stole." That alerted Pikachu who looked back toward the well. Brock went to rescue Merrill while Pikachu warned the others about the assassination. It ran off toward the well, catching the others off-guard.

"Pikachu?" Ritsuko called. Pikachu ignored it and pressed on until he heard a noise from a close by area. Moans...with Merrill's pitch. Ila and Dawn wondered what it could be. Ila carefully opened the door and the three peeked in. What they saw left them flabbergasted. Merrill was on Brock...under the covers...presumably naked...WOW! Ila, Dawn and Pikachu were stunned with this sighting. What could they do? Croagunk hadn't popped out to pull Brock from Merrill. It was odd.

"Guess she was honest about not liking Louie," Ila teased.

"Yeah but what do we do?" Dawn asked. "Can't leave without him or her." Yeah, Ash could be wondering about what's wrong with his best buddy in human form. Somehow they did get him onto Mike and all rode back to Ohfun. As they reached the hut, they were woefully unaware of another brewing romance. Hearing Mike, Celcia and Celecia who was visiting heard the motor of the T-74 military vehicle fast approaching. The two stepped out and there was Mike on the arrival. The group stepped off and walked to the hut.

"Welcome back everyone," Celcia greeted. Brock stepped off, Merrill sleeping on his back and having Celecia make a smug at what appeared to be admiration or love.

"Celcia, did Mesprit arrive?" Dawn wondered. Smiling, Celecia glanced back at the hut.

"Yeah, I helped it here," she insisted. "Celcia removed the spell fragments and now it's sleeping with Uxie and..." A clearing of the throat hinted that something was going on inside. Louie, Junpei, Ritsuko and Melissa seemed bewildered with that back glance. Cynthia passed the elves to look inside. Sure enough, Mesprit, the black now blue and normal, and Uxie resting together. That's when she saw Ash and Gannet in the exact same positions as Brock and Merrill, Gannet on top of Ash. Quietly and eerily calm, she closed the door. Everyone was wondering what was occurring inside the hut.

"Cynthia, is something wrong?" Dawn questioned. Cynthia remained stone faced. She's the champion, nothing's phasing her.

"Was Ash injured while we were gone?" she asked Celcia. Hearing that, Louie began to seethe in anger, thinking his teacher was responsible for Ash's harm.

"It better not be Master Foltess!" Louie snapped. Celcia shook her head.

"It was a man named Cyrus," she finally replied. Dawn and Pikachu gasped. Team Galactic's leader engaged with Ash in a battle here. "Fortunately, we did fend him off and I used the borrowed books to heal him. That and a little help from his Pokémon." Most of that was a lie. She never included Gannet, Anna and Joan into the mix. Still, everyone bought the fact that Celcia healed him and he was fine. It was an exhausting few days for all. With 2/3 of the spell fragments and Uxie and Mesprit in their possessions again, the elf hunters and Pokémon trainers were one step closer to their homes. Where's Azelf and was he in possession of the last spell fragment? Somethings are brewing in the next chapter.

TO BE CONTINUED... (Sorry for the long wait. Other projects and work were in the way.)


	11. You Said it Azelf, Man! Part 1

_Chapter 11: You Said It Azelf, Man! Part 1_

* * *

It's been a week since Louie and Junpei fought in the Velasquez Street Rumble. Peace settled along the trainers, hunters and adventurers. During a night, the jail was visited. Cyrus sat on a plywood bench looking spaced out. He kept replaying images of Ash stopping him from using Uxie, Mesprit and another blue being who looked like the other two except its head looked like a bolder blue spear from going to space. That must be Azelf. He, Dawn, Brock and Cynthia stopped Cyrus in Mt. Coronet. He wanted to create a universe free of emotions, a dauntingly impossible task, and destroy the world he birthed from. He wanted freedom of feelings, a human's natural set of acts. He was about to get a visitor. "To hear that a child had taken you down is humiliating," another man mocked. Cyrus turned to a purple-haired man with a matching goatee and overcoat. Cyrus didn't react to the motion of the new man. He _was_ trying to cast it out of his system.

"Who must you be?" he asked. The new man wasn't startled with the sudden reply.

"They call me Dardanel. I run Ohfun. I can help you with your problem." How? Cyrus stared growling at Dardanel, unsure about trusting him. That short introduction out of the way, it was another ho-hum day in the Magicians' Guild. Foltess' lectures were coming to an end. Louie and Ila stayed until the end of class.

"Before I dismiss you for...a few days, I have an announcement," he opened up. "I will be leaving on a business trip, thus the few days off. This will provide you ample time to perform your assignments." How nice of him. That's when bells rang. School's done. The students rose from their seats and headed for the door. For Louie, a done school day it wouldn't become. "Mr. Louie, may I have a word with you?" Foltess wanted Louie to stay. It was his teacher so maybe something came up.

"Yeah, sure," Louie replied. While the other students filed out of class, Ila came to his side with a tiny shred of paper. It had notes on it but not in English.

"Here you go!" she offered. Louie was handed the slip and surveyed it. "It turns out that it's a recipe for some magical creature. What, I'm not too sure about." A recipe to conduct a magical creature? Reading a side note, Louie wondered about what the magical creature could be. "I wish I could help you but I'm too distracted with Isabel's valiant champion." Louie understood. When Ila left, Foltess approached.

"Mr. Louie, your grades are not promising and as a teacher, I wanna help you with your studies as professionally as possible," he expressed concern. Louie had an excuse.

"I'm sorry, Teach," he apologized. "But you know how busy I am with those ladies, not to forget the other guests who are staying with me." He's blaming the responsibilities of his new guests.

"I realize that but that doesn't mean you can't ignore your homework during breaks from those responsibilities. However, I may know a way to get your grades on the up and up." What would Foltess have to offer? "I would like you to join me on this trip, tomorrow. It'll require some hard work but you'll learn several tools of the trade. What say you?" This was an offer that Louie possibly couldn't afford to pass up. Same couldn't be said with Ritsuko back at the hut.

"Absolutely not!" she protested. "This is a ploy for someone to take advantage of a failing student!" Boy, Ritsuko was defensive for the failing magician. Louie would agree but...

"I know but I don't think I have a choice in the matter!" he replied with a touch of volume. "Unless I go, I won't be able to graduate from the Guild!" A point Dawn and Piplup wanted to stretch.

"You're a better bruiser than you are a magician," she huffed. "Why not just drop out and become an official worldwide brawler?" She was suggesting this because of how muscular Louie looked. He did have the muscles.

"I know that, but I want to learn! Is that a crime?" No, it's just brain and brawn barely work together. However, someone was supporting Louie's assistance to his teacher.

"I believe that's a great idea," Airi acknowledged the plan. She and Cynthia came out of the hut to see what the disturbance was all about. Ritsuko and Dawn were baffled with the opposition. "Perhaps, it could help with getting along with your teacher." Interesting point. Louie appreciated Airi's support but believed it was timed off.

"Thanks but Foltess and I have been good friends since I was Ash's age. Besides, if I hadn't agreed to this, who knows how things would turn out for him alone." Dawn and Ritsuko weren't buying into his act. Somehow, they thought he was forced into Foltess' manner by offering little option to the wannabe magician. Suddenly, Celcia and Happiny exited the hut with the stack of books Ash had borrowed from his and Ila's dorm.

"You need help carrying these back?" she wondered. Seeing the stack, Louie huffed a big sigh, knowing that his arms are going to be burning aches. He's a strong dude but even he knew this would be a hassle.

"Kinda wished Jeanie was here to help out. I heard about that incident with Ash and how he not only rescued that junior hothead but repaired her wounds with his bare hands. He's more of a valiant champion than I am." That's tough to confess to when he himself is a valiant champion. The two young girls mulled more now that they heard about Ash's exploits in helping out someone like that. Hey, give him a little love, too. He got hurt saving her life from Cyrus.

"I kinda wish Ash would just leave things the way they are instead of going out of his way to save a meaningless life," Ritsuko grumbled.

"You said it, sister," Dawn agreed. Louie's ear caught the unpleasant girls, wanting to set them straight.

"Dawn-y, Ritz, you need to grow a backbone for him," he snapped. That got the girls' attention. "What makes you think he did this out of love?" That statement had Cynthia tapping his shoulder.

"No one said anything about love, Louie," she reminded.

"Beside the point. What I mean is that Ash could help out anyone he sees in danger. It could be you, it could be Junpei... he'll go out of his way as the selfless child he is." Some point he made. Dawn and Ritsuko looked at each other, thinking that they're getting mad over nothing. The next day in Ohfun, Ash was exiting the Mylee temple with the "Mylee" hymns echoing. Still adjusting to his old voice alone, he turned to Tanya and waived thanks.

"Thanks for the invite, Tanya," he praised. "You take good care." The senior priestess bowed, excusing Ash to go on his tasks for the day. As he walked aimlessly, he began to see people running in a fixed direction. "Okay, what's going on?" One of the residents heard Ash's question.

"You mean you haven't heard?" she gawked. "Lord Dardanel's leading an army out to face the rebel army that's entered the country." A war. Ash followed the resident to the entrance of Ohfun. A parade of soldiers filed out of the city with a handful on horseback. The group watched and cheered their fellow protectors off to save them from the invasion of the rebel army as some pulled a wagon with a few men covered in rags from head to toe. That's when Ash spotted Louie and Foltess riding off. Ash was taken a bit aback with seeing student and teacher.

"Foltess...and Louie?" That's when a horse-drawn carriage was wheeled out for the crowd to see. Inside, Dardanel and Lily were seated. The sight of Lily had Ash's mind running in circles about what's going on that Lily was needed. Lily peered out and saw Ash but didn't bat an eye. Instead, she turned back ahead. "What's Lily doing with that guy?" For all he knew, Lily and Dardanel were father and daughter. But then again, the hair don't match at all. He retreated to the tavern where he'd be joined by Melissa, Jeanie and Junpei. After telling them what he saw...neither seemed worried.

"He's with master Foltess," Melissa shrugged. "I have full faith that he'll keep his eye on my valiant champion, even thought it's against my will." So that's one who wasn't worried.

"And on a side note, there's that war with the invading army," Junpei added. "Louie could be used as a double-taskmaster. He could use magic or his fists." That's one who saw both sides of Louie's coin. "Though I'm surprised that they'd recruit him and not you, Jeanie." Jeanie groaned but from the denial of joining the ranks or that the topic was brought up?

"Don't put me in the same boat as our flanks defending Ohfun, molester," Jeanie snapped. "I'm a mercenary, not a soldier." It's been a while since Junpei was called a molester. She still hadn't forgotten the moment she caught Junpei with Dawn's cap and assumed the worst. Neither did Junpei.

"You know damn well I'm no molester!" Junpei and Jeanie were on their feet and still fuming mad at each other, forcing Ash to stand as well.

"Knock it off!" he roared. Just the sound of him told the bigger two to settle themselves. Finally with cooler heads, Ash was ready to continue. "And I take it you don't care what happens to Louie, either?"

"Why should I? He ruined Melissa's day by breaking into her revelation to find a valiant champion, performed spells which ended on the business end of bad news and ruined a crap load of our adventures. If he dies in battle, that's a load off my back. If I can read Melissa's mind, I'd say she wished she met you a decade older." Wasn't that referred back a few chapters when all of the trainers, adventurers and hunters were all together? Melissa now wished that wasn't leaked out so callously.

"Don't bring up my personal agenda, Jeanie!" she snapped at her. Jeanie smirked, confident she hit a serious nerve.

"But wouldn't you have wanted Ash instead of that valiant buffoon?"

"That's beside the point! I now that even if it's against my will, Mylee chose him and according to him, Louie will remain as my champion! Changing my choice is against Mylee's beliefs!" Talk about being up a creek without a paddle and Junpei could sense the levels of tension. Quickly using what little brain capacity he had, Junpei had a plan to get someone out of his hair.

"You do realize this argument is pointless," he mumbled. "What happened, happened. There's nothing we can do to turn it back and around." His words cut deep and both ladies settled down. "Ash, I get that you're worried about Louie and that Lily is on board this trip against the rebel army, you wanna see that they're both okay." Ash gulped in fear, some embarrassment but nodded. "If that's the case, why don't you go check on them yourself?" That was the motivation Ash needed. He stood up to take Junpei's bet.

"That's exactly what I'll do! I'll be back with him!" On that note, Ash stormed out of the bar. Did he even pay his part of the tab? With the sun setting and Pikachu and Piplup joining along for this ride, Ash followed the tracks left by horses and the carriage. "Why did you wanna come along, Piplup?"

("Because Cynthia's worried about you,") the penguin chick beaked. Cynthia and not Dawn? Ash and Pikachu figured that someone was concerned about him leaving to find Louie and Lily. Just as the sun passed the treeline, a familiar engine roar caught Pikachu's ears...and Ash's attention.

"You hear something, Pikachu?"

("Yeah, it sounds like Mike's coming,") Pikachu warned. That tank's always appearing in these chapters. Sure enough, that T-74 military vehicle rolled out to meet up with Ash and the Pokémon. A friendly meow was its greeting.

"What's up, Mike?" Mike's meows seemed to tell Ash something but Pikachu was the one to understand.

("Mike's just wondering where we're going.") Who knew that Pikachu could understand cat? Thinking that Ash was getting a lift, he approached the tank.

"You got a light?" Mike opened headlights. That's proof for Ash. The horse hooves, footprints and wheel tracks were visible to notice. "We're following that trail to make sure Louie and Lily are okay." Being a friend with Louie, Mike was wondering about him too. His mewing prompted Pikachu and Piplup onto the chassis. Ash followed suit and joined his and Dawn's Pokémon for the ride. Watching the tracks, Mike rolled on the trail like bloodhounds to bodies. "I guess this is Noctowl or Swellow or Staraptor of the ground type." Pikachu knew what Ash meant. Piplup? Not so much. Suddenly... KLANK! KLANK! Someone was inside Mike? Ash and the Pokémon wondered who stowed away. From all they know, it's probably Ritsuko. It was her tank she brought over. But why would they knock if it's someone they knew? Ash twisted the wheel handle from the hatch and opened it. Out popped someone they knew but weren't familiar with the tank's design.

"Oh, lord!" Gannet gasped. "I never knew steel chariots could roll so fast." Wait until she learns what powers these steel chariots. Surprised, Ash and the Pokémon were curious with why Gannet hopped on Mike. "Oh, goodness! I timed myself well!" There's a clue. She joined because of Ash.

"Lemme guess, you came to be at my side again." Gannet loved Ash so you couldn't really fault her choice to get on Mike.

"Well, not exactly. You know that guy who attacked us several days ago?" Cyrus? Ash guessed it was him. "He's not in prison and I think he's with the guards assigned to protect Dardanel and a few others!" That explained the incident at the beginning of the chapter. Dardanel helped Cyrus escape. But why? Ash was starting to piece the puzzle in a peculiar fashion.

"Foltess, Louie, Lily and now Cyrus?" Hearing Louie being mentioned reflected Gannet's option to board Mike to tell Ash the news. "They aren't conducting a sacrificial spell to give power to those soldier in their war against the rebel army, are they?" Fascinating theory.

"We'll know when we get there." The Pokémon and Mike acknowledged the idea. As they were about to arrive to a large cottage, inside a large room was Foltess and Louie working on a giant incubator full of green liquids. Louie was pouring contents into the huge solution and the smell of it was affecting his work.

"Don't get ruffled by the smell, Mr. Louie," Foltess advised. "You need to make sure the two contents' ratio is three-to-two." The scent was making hardship on Louie for good reason.

"I'm sorry, master," he groaned with his nose plugged. "It's just that I recognize the smell from somewhere, from one of my adventures." Foltess didn't believe him. He thought Louie was trying to back out of the operation.

"Nonsense, Mr. Louie. This is an ancient formula to conduct a spell to rid the rebel army. I doubt your tale that the smell is something from your journeys." Louie was ready to counter it.

"No, once you get that smell, you never forget it. I'm wondering where I had this same whiff before." As Louie pondered about that smell, Ash, Gannet and the Pokémon arrived within the vicinity of the cottage. That's the good news. There were guards positioned around every exit from the doors to windows and everything in between. That's the bad news.

"Wow, security's tight!" Ash noted. "I knew getting in wasn't gonna be easy but this makes hardly any sense." Gannet had a feeling on how it was nonsense.

"The rebel army could strike Ohfun at any moment while Lord Dardanel has the army stationed here, guarding a great teacher, a worthless magician, few prisoners and some sort of secret weapon," she listed. This was Ash's moment. He needed to sneak into the cottage. The question was how?

"We need to draw the guards' attention away from that house." That's the plan. They needed an execution.

"You know, when I was in that steel chariot and studying what's inside, I saw a hatch which said 'INSERT AMMO' and a bag full of iron balls. The iron balls were a bit heavy but I loaded some into that chute." She armed Mike? Ash pondered about their position and the fact that the country was at war. A quick grin prompted Ash to come up with the perfect plan.

"Gannet, you just loaded us inside the house." Gannet and the Pokémon were dumbfounded. What did he mean? "Piplup, return to Mike and tell him to fire those rounds over the house." Piplup and Gannet wanted to adjust their ears. Did Ash wanted Mike to attack Ohfun's own soldiers? "This country is in war, right? What will happen is Mike's cannon rounds will strike some of the trees. If these soldiers are as gullible as I believe, they'll run off searching for the 'sneaky' rebels and leave us an opening to get inside." Ash can be pretty sneaky about plans using the current status. Gannet and Pikachu were amazed at how quickly Ash plotted their entry. Then again, Gannet couldn't find a proper expression to calling the tank, Mike.

"It's pretty odd to call a speedy steel chariot by a human name." An item Ash was about to let Gannet in on.

"It's Ritsuko's steel chariot...or in our time, a military tank." A nod to Piplup and the baby penguin waddled off. A little while later...KABOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The guards heard the blasts, thinking they were under attack. They dashed off, much to Ash's planning. Hey, the back door's unguarded. They entered via the back and closed it in case. The guards began to chase the sounds from before without realizing the real setup. Piplup was resting comfortably inside Mike far away from the action. Safely inside the darkened halls, Ash pulled out another modern day tool: a flashlight. Anticlimactic, sorry. With a flick of the switch, the halls lightened like the sun.

"What a strange lantern you have." Keep in mind, Gannet was here in this time period with Louie, Melissa, Jeanie, etc.

"This 'lantern' is a flashlight. Easy on the hands and can quickly be shut off." Demonstrating, Ash flicked the flashlight off and back on. Gannet was getting a hands-on about items in the future. Ash waived the flashlight around, seeing paintings which he would pass off from. Art wasn't in the eye of this beholder. They arrived at the large room which Foltess and Dardanel stood in front of the incubator Louie was filling not too long ago.

"I knew I could rely on you to help with this operation, master Foltess," Dardanel praised. "Those fools in Ohfun don't suspect a thing. Neither do the soldiers we hired to protect us." Those two seemed proud of their accomplishment.

"Why, thank you, Lord Dardanel," Foltess accepted. "It did require some sacrifices but with the proper parts, King Rijarl and his merry men will fall to the hands of your own." A backstabbing in the process and Ash, Gannet and Pikachu were getting the lowdown.

"By the way, were the subjects necessary in part of your procedure?"

"They were. After removing their organs for this, the creature will rise with destruction in its head." The prisoners? "Although, I do wish for some of that aura from that one kid who Mr. Louie introduced me to." Ash knew he referred him. Not making a sound, Pikachu and the two kids sneaked away. They found another room with the prisoners on tables...with their bodies covered by drapes. The room was pitch black so Ash used his flashlight to shine the three. Surprisingly, there was no flinch. There were splotches of blood on the drapes. Ash partially removed the drape of one to reveal the head of a blond female elf, not Celcia or Celecia. The hair was too long to be either. Ash covered that back up and proceeded to the next, uncovering a troll. Maybe it was one Louie bashed in. Who knows but Ash covered that back up too. There was one more drape. When Ash uncovered it, his heart nearly stopped. It was Cyrus!

"Gannet?" Ash called. Gannet and Pikachu came over and were horrified with the sight of the man who killed two elves and nearly did them in to add. Even the flashlight shining his face, Cyrus didn't move a muscle. There was a very good reason for that and Ash began to uncover it, or him. Cyrus' chest was cut wide open. Was this the operation Foltess mentioned? Ash motioned to Gannet to hold the flashlight over Cyrus' chest as he dug into it. Feeling around, Ash knew something was very wrong. "That would explain why Cyrus isn't responding to the light and I doubt Pikachu can shock him awake. His organs were removed." Cyrus was dead. His vital organs were harvested which could mean the others' were the same way.

("Ash, check this out!") Pikachu squeaked about Cyrus' arm. There was an itty-bitty hole there. An injection, a needle was punched through his skin.

"They were sedated." Gannet wanted to know what Ash meant by sedated.

"Sedated?" she horribly gulped.

"They were given an injection of some sort to put Cyrus and the other two to sleep. Apparently, they were knocked out for Foltess to get at their organs an use them in that container." So why an elf, a troll and Cyrus? "Now that I think about it, Jessie would've been a better choice for this." Who and why?

"Who's Jessie?"

"Jessie and her partners, James and a human-talking Meowth, are members of an organization known as Team Rocket who are bent on stealing rare and valuable Pokémon like Pikachu here. The reason I would want Jessie and not James or Meowth is that James would want to play by the book most of the time and there was a moment I felt sorry for him. Jessie is so bent to get Pikachu, I think she'd kill me if only to have him." That spooked Pikachu badly.

("Don't say that, Ash!") the mouse snapped. ("I don't wanna think about you dying!") Ash would apologize to him in a little bit.

"Although the Lake Trio would now need not to worry about Cyrus anymore, I kinda wished for a better resolution than putting him out to permanent pasture." Despite nearly dying in his hands with Ash, Gannet acknowledged the thought of a better way to deal Cyrus' punishment. He covered the deceased Cyrus back up and they left the now-known autopsy room. Like ninjas, they made it to Louie's room. Knowing how much Gannet disliked Louie, Ash had her and Pikachu wait while he knocked on his door. Louie opened it up for his surprise.

"Ash, how the hell did you get here?" he jumped in shock. Ash could tell him about the use of Mike but he'd rather not explain too much.

"It's...complicated." Tell that to Ritsuko when she finds out about her missing living tank. "Pikachu and I came over to see how you were doing." Louie looked fine. Tired, maybe but he looked okay.

"I'm a bit worn but I'm hanging in there. By the way, how's that voice of yours?"

"I actually like it. Makes me sound smarter and so far, everything's working well." Blame Celcia but Ash would praise her. Then Ash became serious. "Anyway, Ohfun may be in trouble." Louie sat down, hearing that a hitch had come to light. "Dardanel is planning a coup against the king with whatever's brewing in that incubator." The detail had Louie thinking. Then, he smiled. He had a plan.

"It's still not complete but I doubt the concoction will be mixed well." Hm? Did Louie sabotaged the incubator? "In the morning, I've gotta put the finishing touches on it. You see, when I was pouring the chemicals into the incubator, a familiar smell aroused me. Now that you've told me of Dardanel's plot, I'm gonna leave a little surprise for him." Confident, Ash walked out. That big grin was a sign of good things to come. They strolled to a new room and found Lily gazing at a portrait of a rounded white-haired man and goatee with a redhead woman in an evening gown.

"Lily!" Her name called, she turned to see those intruding in her room. Ash, Gannet and Pikachu stood on the other side of the room from Lily.

"What are you doing here?" she groaned. There's someone not happy to see the trainer.

"Hey, lighten up. We were wondering about what was going on with our friend, Louie. Then again, what are _you_ doing here instead of with Isabel and Lenard?" Lily wasn't in the mood to talk about the condition of her group.

"That's none of your business." Okay, let's try a different topic.

"...And of all places, why hang out here in Dardanel's pad?" Nothing caving against Lily.

"That's none of your business." Strike two. That's when Ash decided to be blunt with the portrait.

"Well, isn't that your mom on that painting? I mean, she is beautiful." Gannet knew that Ash wouldn't chase tails of mothers. Lily was still in denial and that ain't the river.

"That's none of your business." Gannet tried her hand.

"You see, Ash and I couldn't help see that you're okay here." That got Lily to raise eyebrows. "It's not easy, especially for me, to see a little girl caught in the middle of a war. So, it _is _our business to see your health intact." Ash nodded to confirm Gannet's reasoning. That's when Dardanel made his appearance.

"I was sensing vermin crawling around here," he voiced. That had everyone turn to his location at the entrance. "Of course, those explosions were a nice distraction on the soldiers to infiltrate my estate." Finally, Ash and Gannet were face-to-face with the man who was the mastermind of this whole ordeal. "Though, I should ask what a priestess-in-training and a young boy from the future are doing here?" Ash stepped to the plate for his mentioning.

"Would you believe just visiting a friend here?" he spoke. "And besides, the country's in war. Why do you need your fleet to keep guard of a few people like yourself and Lily?" If Lily wasn't cooperating, you think Dardanel would?

"That's none of your business." Nope.

"And why would you need a bumbling magician when he's well suited for the front line against the enemy?" Not the topic to raise but still...

"Again, none of your business." That's when his mindset focus on the dead.

"Or how about when you needed an elf, a troll and a human for your concoction? Sure, that guy wanted to create a universe free of emotion but seriously." Dardanel heard enough.

"It seems you've been snooping far too long and my secrets are in jeopardy. I must take immediate action." Then he snapped his fingers. It opened a trap door from below Ash's and Gannet's feet, plunging them down the pit. With another snap, the floor closed back up. Satisfied, Dardanel walked away. "Come, Lily." Lily followed Dardanel out. What could be next for Ash, Gannet, Louie and Pikachu? Could they save Ohfun from that lord?

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...


	12. You Said it Azelf, Man! Part 2

_Chapter 12: You Said It Azelf, Man! Part 2_

* * *

A coach guarded by soldiers were returning to the city. Lily and Dardanel left everyone but the soldiers back at his estate. "Everyone, clear the gates!" one soldier called out to the guards stationed at the entrance of Ohfun. "Lord Dardanel has returned!" The gates opened to allow the coach a warm welcome. Meanwhile back at the estate, Ash and Gannet were stuck between two walls with narrow space. Ash had let out Monferno to see if it can do any damage to the trap floor they were under.

"Mach Punch!" he called. Monferno's hand was shining like a comet cocked back. With a leap, Monferno swung away. BASH! The Mach Punch destroyed the false floor and allowed all to escape. Ash reached for the ledge, only to have someone grab his arm. Looking up, Ash spotted Louie with Piplup by his side.

"I had a feeling that something went wrong with your meeting," he hinted as he pulled Ash out of the hole. Quickly, Ash turned and pulled Gannet from the same hole. "I think you guys need to get back. No doubt Cynthia and Melissa are wondering where you two disappeared to." Yeah, from all they knew, Ash and Gannet sneaked away to make out, undressed themselves and... Anyway...

"What about the magical creature?" Louie couldn't answer and it wasn't that he didn't know.

"Hold it!" the soldiers shouted upon showing. All that their swords out. A horde of soldiers versus Gannet, Louie, Ash...the Pokémon, that's why Ash brightened a smile.

"Hey, Piplup, how about a Whirlpool to cool these men off?" Piplup began to glow a shiny blue and spat up a watery cone which grew to three times it's original size. Finally, Piplup tossed it forward and bowled the soldiers over. Some were getting up but not on Ash's watch. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Pikachu fired a huge volt of lightning and struck the soldiers, shocking them. Tazed, the soldiers were neutralized, unable to move. The rest could. "Let's go!" The group ran to the exits where more soldiers stood by. Unfortunately, they didn't spot the group until they entered the woods.

"Stop them!" more soldiers roared out as they pursued the group into the trees. Using the thick oak to their advantage, Louie's team left the soldiers lost. Ash, Pikachu and Piplup acted like monkeys, jumping from tree to tree as the priestess-in-training and the muscles ran the floor. Meanwhile at Ohfun, the citizens gathered for more soldiers on an announcement.

"People of the imperial city of Ohfun!" one guard yelled to make sure everyone got their attention. "The city is now under Martial Law! There are additional laws that have been considered by the council of Lord Dardanel!" Dawn, Brock, Cynthia, Merrill, Melissa, Jeanie, Junpei, Airi and Ritsuko were in the crowd as well.

"What's Martial Law?" Dawn asked. No one would answer since this was sudden.

"First: curfew begins at sunset! Anyone on the streets afterward will be subjected to arrest!" Going out after dark was no longer an option.

"What about people who have to work nights!" a concerned citizen scorned.

"Second: no one will enter or leave the city unless permission is granted by the council of Lord Dardanel!" A law that detested Jeanie.

"Martial Law wants to keep adventurers out of jobs beneficial to the city," she murmured. Something her friends hated as well.

"Third: Any suspicious persons will be identified as agents to the enemy faction and will be subjected to arrest for spy-related crimes! Those who report suspicious activities in regard of the Martial Law will be rewarded and their identities anonymous!" Suspicious persons? Citizens groaned, displeased with the acceptance of Martial Law. Back in the woods, Ash, Gannet, Louie, Piplup and Pikachu hit a problem.

"Forget about them being lost," Gannet huffed in disappointment. "Seeing as we're lost too." That's out of the frying pan and into the fire. Ash knew what happened to get them in this awkward predicament.

"Well the initial plan was to escape the household and the guards," he remembered. "Of course, how do we explain to Dawn and Brock that we found Cyrus without his guts...literally."

"That's easy," Louie snapped. Ash and Gannet geared for an answer that they were going to hate.. "We won't. By the way, how did he die?" He wasn't aware? Oh, boy.

"He was drugged before his organs were removed." That made Louie a bit squeamish.

"His organs were removed while he's alive?" A nod from Ash nearly made Louie vomit. What stopped his bile from exiting stage mouth was a familiar meow. They knew that Mike was coming.

("Mike!") Pikachu squeaked! Mike soon spotted the lost people and arrived...with extra cargo...of the elven variety. The group was shocked to see Celcia and Celecia on board the T-74 military vehicle.

"You called it, Celecia," Celcia praised. Did Celecia knew the group would be lost? The elves and humans met while Pikachu and Piplup reached Mike.

"What's up, Celcia?" Ash wondered. "Why aren't you at the hut with Uxie and Mesprit?" Celcia became serious in the face.

"Ohfun has been closed off since Lord Dardanel returned to the city. Everyone is within the walls and can't escape." Now it was serious. Celcia was getting concerned for Airi and Ritsuko. Junpei, she's still a bit bitter about. Remember how "Those Who Hunt Elves" arrived because of him? Ash and the Pokémon were worried about Dawn, Brock and Cynthia. Cyrus was already dead so...yeah. Gannet became minded about her two associates, Anna and Joan, as well as Melissa, Jeanie and Merrill. Louie was with them and besides, she had no concern for him. Louie's only concern: dorm mate Ila.

"Why is the city closed off?" Gannet asked, worried out of her beret.

"We don't know. Ri-chan and I were using her walkie-talkies to communicate when she cut her line. She didn't specify why but just told me to look for you since you weren't in town." Ritsuko knew that Ash had escaped Martial Law and was their last hope to freeing them.

"Perhaps you know why the imperial city's in this sealed state," Celecia guessed. She's onto something. Ash reviewed his stop at the household, knowing something that was dire.

"It's gotta be related to the war from the opposing faction," he pondered. "Lord Dardanel is willing to attack his own people and those who are there to protect him. He hired Louie to concoct a magical creature and harvested organs from an elf, a troll and Cyrus, possibly to give it life." That's only part but even Ash knew there was more. He just didn't have proof.

"Let's say you're right and with the war, the king would leave the confines of his kingdom walls to reach the front lines," Gannet issued possibilities. "Lord Dardanel would use it to attack King Rijarl-" She stopped herself when she figured the real intention. Louie wasn't wanting to wait around too much longer.

"Whatever the plan, let's get back to the city and back to the team," he optioned. The rest realized that the citizens were in trouble and their friends might be in the front to be arrested because of their wardrobe. They agreed and boarded Mike as it rolled forward.

"We should drop you off at the hut so you-" Ash suggested but was interrupted by Celcia, the object of his plan.

"Oh no!" Celcia roared. "Celecia and I can help you! We have friends beyond those walls as well!" Shrugging, Ash surrendered as Mike raced to Ohfun. In the city's pub, the teams felt boxed in, unable to understand why they had to be trapped by the Martial Law, unaware of Dardanel's real ploy. Ila had joined the teams in the pub in person and in agreement that Martial Law was trapping the heroes from their adventures.

"I guess I can see why you guys don't like this Martial Law," she acknowledged. "We can't even see if Louie's doing okay with Master Foltess." Not quite the same reasons as the rest but they understood her position.

"This is Master Foltess, Louie's teacher, we're talking about," Airi softly replied. "Teachers and students have incredible bonds to which if one's in trouble, the other's there to support." Ila believed Airi, much to her chagrin.

"Though, I'm rather worried about Gannet," Melissa mumbled. "I haven't seen her since the other day. Maybe she knew that the Martial Law was coming and chased after Ash and since I heard from Celcia about how close she is to him..." Hearing about another girl hitting on Ash forced Dawn to hit the table with hammer fists. She was a bit upset. It was more about Ash, not the Martial Law. Everyone in the pub, not just the heroes, spun to the blue-haired kid puzzled.

"Why him?" she yelled. "Why Ash?" No one moved a muscle, not a breath leaked from their lips as they tried to picture Dawn's problem. You think those guys had an answer? "Everywhere he goes, there's some girl hitting on him! Zoey's hit on him, Maylene, Candice, Cynthia...AGH!" Dawn, Cynthia's in the room. She had a feeling on Dawn's little outburst.

"Apparently, the long travel through Sinnoh has weighed heavily on her heart about my protege," she concluded. Cynthia, we respect you for being the champion but you're not helping the matter.

"He, or in this case _she_ who hesitates..." Airi made it worse. Really? A grown woman butchering a child? Dawn whimpered in great demise with everyone practically telling her that there are more men that could have her hand or time to capture Ash for herself.

"Even Lenard has a few ladies fawning for him," she whined. Lenard... Why didn't that come up sooner?

"We nearly forgot about him," Merrill hiccuped. "Ila, I know you've been chasing info about Lenard. Any new news?" Ila wasn't ready for this piece.

"Funny that you mention him," she huffed. "I've been asking around about Lenard." This was the moment where they could learn about Isabel's valiant champion.

"You know his origin?" Melissa voiced.

"That's the thing! No one has heard of this Lenard or asked about where he came from. It's like he just appeared out of nowhere." Some mystery shrouding the valiant champion of Isabel. As the sun fell beyond the horizon, Mike and his cargo arrived at the gates. Only when they arrived did they see a sight that made them a bit uneasy. It was Conrad at the entrance and arguing with the guards.

"I urge thee to allow thyself passage," he ordered. The guards weren't in any mood for his formal yet spiteful scold.

"We've told you once, we've told you a thousand times," one fed up guard scowled. "No one is permitted to enter under Martial Law! Those are the rules!"

"Then how many times must I say that I, the handsome knight of Ramliearth, have a letter to deliver personally to the Mylee Shrine?" The group walked over to Mr. Scrawny to find out about why he's here in Ohfun.

"Having a bit of trouble, Conrad?" Louie poked. Conrad and the guards turned to the newcomers.

"Ah, Sir Louie. Thank thee for coming. These brutes are not allowing me inside because of some Martial Law established." It began to piece itself. Could Martial Law be the reason none of their friends could exit? The guard decided to see if Louie and his troupe were accomplices to Conrad.

"And who are you suppose to be?" he growled.

"I'm a member of the Magicians' Guild," he identified. "I've been gone for the past couple of days and came back to check on a few people." That sounded reasonable, jumping the guard to check a scroll of people who've left under the new law. Anyone under the Magicians' Guild?

"There's no one from the Guild who's left the city!" None of the students left? "Same goes with those who left the Mylee Temple!" No names? Louie knew why.

"Maybe because I was gone before you guys ratified Martial Law!" Louie was so close to the guard, he was feeling nervous.

"Get back! Get back, I say!" Louie sensed something from behind and leaped clear. It was Buizel and Grotle. Buizel fired a blue sphere from his hands and Grotle a green sphere from its mouth. Both spheres nailed the guards right into the wooden gates. They were knocked out. Louie made it to the gate and opened...a door. Really? You have a large gate and you have a little door embedded? Taking advantage and returning Buizel and Grotle, the invaders entered the city. They weren't going in unnoticed.

"Stop right there!" another guard roared as he reached for some sort of weapon.

"They brought elves?" one more shouted. They set crossbows to shoot. Not on Conrad's watch.

"I say nay!" he roared as he pulled...a wand? He's a knight with a wand, not a sword? He fired a magic missile and destroyed the towers and knocked out the guards. Nifty use, Conrad!

"Nice work!" Louie complimented. Conrad was a little aside himself. He didn't know how strong his magic was. Ash decided to move with a plan.

"Knowing that Isabel's at the temple, Gannet, Pikachu and I will head there," he plotted. "Conrad, Celcia, Piplup, rendezvous with the rest at the pub and tell them about the situation that's stirring." Celcia and Piplup nodded in agreement.

"I'll explain on the way," she told Conrad. Conrad was eager to hear about this.

"I know Ila has magical items in her closet so I'll go and get them," Louie exclaimed. Celecia tapped Louie on the shoulder, telling him she's coming with.

"Since we know the target's the castle not too far away," Gannet opened. "That's where we should meet." Everyone nodded before splitting up to their assignments. Halfway to the temple, a window shattered with glass impeding the path. Jakinson pulled himself out of the house and he was in bad shape. "Jakinson!" The three raced to Jakinson's side where Ash spotted his poor color.

"He's been poisoned," he figured.

"Take...me," he tried to speak despite the poison. "Isabel...shrine..." Ash recalled Grotle back out, knowing that he needed a little support on getting to the shrine. They reached the shrine in stealth and record time to where the priestesses began to treat Jakinson's poison. It's then that he dropped a bombshell on Isabel and Melissa, who just happened to be back at the shrine. That bombshell made Isabel drop a vial of liquid to the floor.

"Are you serious?" Isabel shrieked to this news. "Lenard, my valiant champion, is the royal prince?" Lenard's really an heir to a kingdom? Talk about blindsided. Ash and Gannet listened as Jakinson was gaining strength. Well, their initial purpose was about Lily.

"His real title is Crowned Prince Littner, King Rijarl's son. He chose to keep his identity a secret to fool assassins from attacking the crown." A rather big gamble. "Lord Dardanel poisoned us but I did escape. I fear what Dardanel may be doing to the young prince." The girls were stunned with this intel. Ash's mind revved into overdrive as he cupped his chin in deep thinking. Something about all that's played out seemed to point to one man with a plan: Dardanel.

"So that's his intention," he studied. The priestesses turned to their other male companion. "The war fast approaching, the magical creature at Dardanel's estate, Martial Law, poisoning the prince...this is an inside job to overthrow the kingdom and rule to allow the enemy to enter and devastate the city in an immediate attack." A blitzkrieg. This was a setup. Dardanel's legion was to the other side.

"If this is true, everyone in the city's in trouble," Melissa conducted. Ash agreed with Melissa's suspicions, ready to head out and storm the castle. "Isabel, we could use your help if-" Isabel was too distraught about the news of Lenard being a prince. She couldn't hear her rival speaking. She retreated to the foyer and began to pray on a pew. Ash and Pikachu entered, showing concern for the rival.

"Isabel, it's not the end of the world." Isabel heard Ash and dropped her hands.

"It's all a lie," she murmured. A lie? "I...acted out of jealousy against Miss Melissa." Did this mean that Lenard...or Prince Littner wasn't his valiant champion? That her real champion was a total wimp? "I never got a revelation from Mylee like Melissa did. I just wanted to have my own valiant champion." So that's why. Envy clouded her judgment. "Then again, you're Gannet's valiant champion, even though she's never received her revelation." Well, you can't really fault Ash about that.

"But don't you still want to be on the prince's side? Sure, he's not a real valiant champion but if the king dies, the prince will need his alliance to run the city." Isabel wanted to accept Ash's words but she felt bounded.

"I rather not disgrace Mylee. Mr. Lenard...no, Prince Littner is never my champion and he may be no champion to any priestess." Her dedication to her God of Battle overwhelmed any thought of saving the heir. Pikachu walked to her side to let her know that there's more than just Littner on the line. Hearing Pikachu made Isabel pick the Pokémon and firmly hug it. That's when Ash remembered what Celcia told him and Gannet about what she wanted to do.

"It might not be easy to accept but Mylee can't control your life 24/7. You have another god looking out for you and it's right under your nose." Isabel was intrigued with Ash's words, though borrowed from Celcia. She could do something, even if against the order of Mylee. She showed struggle within decisions. Help the prince? Seek a revelation?

"I need a little time." She put Pikachu down and walked off, needing time to clear her head. Time the others didn't have.

"Well, that could have gone better," Melissa huffed about the result. "Where did you learn that?" Before Ash could answer...

"There you are!" sounded Junpei. Ash and Melissa turned to him, Dawn and Jeanie who raced down and confronted Melissa. "It's Louie! Ila told us that he's in the castle with Celecia!" Not good. Louie and Celecia have engaged in a suicide mission. Melissa became fearful of what could happen to Louie. Ash took control.

"Gather the remaining troops," he commanded. "We're going in to stop Dardanel!" Dawn and the priestesses-in-training gasped at how frontal Ash was about the issue.

"A-Are you sure about that?" Dawn wished for his plan to be a joke. No joke this time.

"Trust me. It's like what we do to Team Rocket, right?" No, not quite.

"Don't tell us that you're going to get that loser Louie from that castle!" Anna growled.

"Yeah, all he's been is a pain in the butt for us!" Joan shared her displeasure. Ash didn't need to say anything.

"That is enough!" Melissa roared, forcing all to turn to her. "As much as it is against my will, Louie is my valiant champion. He relies on his convictions for justice!" On that note, Melissa dashed with Jeanie to start the counterstrike. Ash had more for Anna and Joan.

"When Isabel's ready to help out, provide protection for her." They don't like Louie but they did like Ash and agreed before the rest gave chase. A little while later, the trainers, hunters and adventurers formed together, some around Mike to start the counterstrike. The guards were not anticipating the T-74 futuristic steel chariot...nor this.

"Fire!" Ritsuko shouted. Mike shot a spread of shots, striking multiple targets and possibly killing some. It did blast the door open. Easy access. That's when Mike stopped as well as Dawn, Merrill and Ila.

"Thanks for the magical items, Ila," Merrill praised. Ila bobbed a nod.

"Ila, Dawn, you two know what to do," Ash reminded. "Use Mike to devastate the rebel army." Mission accepted.

"We will," Dawn huffed. "And Ash?" This was her moment. Don't blow it! "Please be careful." That's it?

"I'll be fine, but thanks." And with that, Ash and Merrill raced in the castle to confront Lord Dardanel. The final showdown was now!

* * *

TO BE CONCLUDED...


	13. You Said it Azelf, Man! Part 3

_Chapter 13/Final: You Said It, Azelf, Man! Part 3_

* * *

The crack of dawn. Anyone who's thinking right now about what's under the coordinator's skirt better get their butts spanked, it's the morning! Soldiers on horseback idle by the coastline. Their leader was covered in fabric and armor from crown to toe. "Any word on the operation in regard of the secret weapon?" he questioned.

"Nothing yet, lord," one scout replied. The leader was anxious to see the secret weapon in action. Then, a rumbling from the earth. One soldier on foot retreated to the leader in a panic.

"Steel chariot!" he screamed in fear. Mike's coming...but the leader wouldn't bite.

"Why are you running, coward?" the leader scolded. The panicked man collapsed by his captain onto his knees.

"Steel Chariot! It's coming this way!" No dice! Ah, if he only knew what's coming.

"Fool! There's no such thing as a steel chariot!" In a sense, he's right. Mike's not a steel chariot. He's a tank.

"Then explain that!" On cue, in came Mike...but it still didn't impress the leader. Ila opened the hatch to see the leader and his army. Still, the leader remained undeterred.

"I must say that's a fine steel chariot you possess. Did King Rijarl send you?" Ila could explain that she's independent. Why not?

"Just came on our terms," she answered. Our? Right, Dawn's in the driver's seat, like it needs a driver. Mike does well on it's own.

"I see. Perhaps we can use that steel chariot as a demolition to infiltrate Rijarl's castle, forcing his hand to step down as king of this land." Ila was just as cold in this stare down with the leader. She had a trick in her hand.

"Dawn, it seems we've been invited to help the rebel forces. What's do you think?" Dawn positioned the targeting reticule on the leader.

"I think this is the first time shooting a gun," she grinned as she pulled the trigger. A cannon shot blasted out of the barrel and hit the ground short of the leading force. How close the shot came to actually striking the horses spooked the thoroughbreds into fleeing. Either Dawn would've preferred extra practice to perfect her aim...or that was on purpose to scare the army into retreat. Now the leader began to hesitate...and Dardanel saw it through a magic hand mirror. He wasn't too happy that the rebel army began to cower from one single cat spirit possessed tank. He should be more worried about his guards being decimated by his attacking horde. Ash, Brock, Cynthia, Melissa, Merrill, Jeanie, Gannet, Junpei, Airi, Ritsuko, Celcia, Pikachu and Piplup were plowing through guards as they tried to catch up with Louie and Celecia. Bodies of soldiers were scattered all over.

"Louie's been busy!" Airi figured out. That's when they ran into a fork in the hallway. Hearing the details from Isabel and knowing the other two in potential danger, Ash took control with this storm.

"We're gonna need to split into three teams," he addressed. "Not only is Louie and Celecia in trouble, the Crowned Prince and Lily are in here as well. Brock, you take Merrill, Piplup and Airi down the left wing. Junpei, you, Melissa, Ritsuko and Cynthia take the right." That left Ash with Pikachu, Jeanie, Gannet and Celcia down the hall ahead. At least Junpei didn't have to deal with Jeanie's constant allegations of being a child molester. Still, why let the youngest of the group take the lead? Because no one objected, they broke to find Louie, Dardanel and whoever else may need aid. They were about to get company as Isabel and Jakinson, along with Anna and Joan, brought up the rear. They would also have backup as Uxie and Mesprit emerged out of nowhere. They wanted to help out with the situation after being guinea pigs to a backfired spell. It did freak Jakinson a bit.

"Mr. Jakinson, it's on our side!" Joan reassured. "And from Ash, they must be here for their other friend!" Azelf in here? It's pretty likely. It's also the final chapter.

"Proceed ahead, you two!" Jakinson allowed. Uxie and Mesprit flew on ahead to search for Azelf. Entering a corridor, Junpei's troupe were pursued by guards. Sure the guards had swords and pikes but Ritsuko's got them all beat with an assault rifle. This was the past so they may not be familiar with the weaponry Ritsuko brought like the handgun holstered over her skirt. Spreading bullets, guards were struck, some falling dead. But while Junpei and Ritsuko were dealing with the guards, Melissa and Cynthia spotted someone they only suspected Ash to have run into without word.

"Lily?" Melissa gasped. Lily stared coldly at the taller females.

"What are you doing here?" she responded. "You're trespassing onto private grounds. If need be, I''ll use force to make you leave." She's itching to start a fight.

"We heard that Louie is chasing Dardanel to correct his corruption." Hearing about Louie back in Ohfun seemed to surprise Lily.

"Louie, huh? Correct corruption? Is he trying to prove something?" Instead of saying something, Melissa cautiously approached Lily, making her and Cynthia uneasy.

"Careful, Melissa," the champion warned as Lily rose her staff. "If she can seal Ash's aura at her age, there's no telling what she can unleash." Melissa never broke stride and proceeded on.

"My champion may not be a powerful magician as you are, Lily," Melissa tried some sweet talk. "However, his sense of justice is unequal." The closer Melissa was to Lily, the more uncomfortable Lily got. "What about you, Lily? What side of justice do you want to fight for?"

"Stop!" she snapped, hoping to show force should the moment arise. Melissa didn't stop. Troubled, Cynthia dashed to protect the follower of Mylee. "I said STOP!" From her staff, a ruby red stream of lightning flashed at Melissa but a black orb took the shot. After the hit, it slammed into Melissa who was knocked onto her butt. If Uxie and Mesprit emerged from those orbs, no doubt that Azelf saved Melissa at that moment. Sure enough, it was the same blue being with a bolder blue for the face and head which looked like a spear head. Of course, it felt the massive impact.

"Thanks, Azelf," Cynthia greeted. "You mind if..." Instead of letting her finish, Melissa just handed Azelf to Cynthia before glaring back at Lily.

"Who are you?" she growled. "Why are you helping Dardanel overthrow King Rijarl?" Finally, Lily couldn't take anymore questioning.

"You want to know who I am and why I bare hatred to King Rijarl?" she hissed. "My full name is Linalim Corwell. My grandfather was killed by Rijarl, the same Rijarl who rules Ohfun." She's the granddaughter of someone who was eliminated by the king himself? A grudge that bore deeply. Could this Mr. Corwell be the same man from the portrait a little while back? To Melissa, something was amiss.

"Count Corwell died no less than 20 years ago." Lily looked half that time. Mr. Corwell was killed before Lily...sorry, Linalim was born. "Why are you fighting for a man you never met? A man who died long before you came to life?" Talk about not making sense.

"I'm correcting a corruption in his name...and mine?" A justice in a dead man's name? Unless he was killed for crimes he never committed, there seemed to be no sense.

"Let me put it to you this way," Cynthia spoke as she stood and clutched a recovering Azelf. "You seek justice for someone who you never met, never known about. Perhaps the reason is that you seek a true desire, not gory vengeance." It wasn't sinking in well. "Is that your reason to live? Seeking vengeance for people who you never knew about?" Linalim wasn't one who cared about a true desire from her standpoint.

"Perhaps in the future...in your future, you have all the reason to be free and live a life you like. However, we do not possess that same luxury. We are bound by duties and obligations. Even you, who follows the order of Mylee and that bumbling magician who he calls your valiant champion. There's no escaping it." Bound to take charge of a late life that you've never heard about? And that everyone's life has it's own destination that must be followed on one's behalf? "It's that same reason you're here, Melissa. Your champion is here and you must follow his discretion." Melissa softly shook her head.

"Mylee had nothing to do with why I came for Louie," she disagreed. "I came on my own discretion. Louie is not just my valiant champion...but also a friend." Melissa began to walk towards her again, reigniting Linalim's fear. She fired shots of lightning near Melissa's feet, warning her to retreat. "What is it that your heart truly desires?" Another shot of lightning within a foot failed to deter Melissa. "What name do you want to live by? Linalim? Or Lily?" Lily would be easier to understand than Linalim. Linalim was cornered and feared Melissa's punishment. Quickly, she dropped her staff in surrender.

"I-I..." her surrender had her in a loss for words. "I don't know! I really don't know!" Finally, Melissa wrapped Linalim in a hug. She began to cry which Cynthia came over and petted Linalim on the head, telling her that she's not angry with her either.

"There are options, like going with Celcia, Junpei and others to help their world back in order...or you joining me and my friends and see all sorts of creatures and have one to call your own." Linalim wasn't sure what to do, her mumbling and crying were mixed together. Meanwhile, Isabel's troupe came across an unusual battle as they saw two crown princes. Two Lenards...or two Littners were fighting each one.

"Your majesty!" One Littner had a sliver sword while the other had a big black sword.

"I know that enormous black sword, it belonged to Jeanie," Isabel recognized.

"Yes, Louie and his elf helped me free so I can battle this clone," Littner...the real Littner told. Louie and Celecia were moving fast.

"Obey Lord Dardanel," the phony murmured while looking spaced out. "That is your only way to live." The real deal and the clone clashed swords. They stood for a moment before the clone fell. The real Littner was okay.

"Impressive, Lenard," Isabel praised. "Or should I say Crowned Prince Littner." Realizing the secret's out, Littner scoffed at his title.

"Lenard's just fine," Littner...or Lenard brushed. He didn't really care for what title he had. On the roof of the castle, Dardanel's focus was off the rebel army being pushed around by a tank to his house. His secret weapon which consist the organs of an elf, a troll and Cyrus.

"Finally found you," Louie called out. Dardanel didn't acknowledge him or his elven companion.

"Do not disturb me," he advised. "I'm in the middle of something." Louie didn't want to wait.

"Well, I'm not good at this patience thing."

"It won't be long so you can jaw at me all you want when the Dragon Golem decimates King Rijarl." Was that what was in the incubator?

"Didn't know you had a name for your operation." Celecia came forward.

"You insist on resurrecting an ancient terror which ravaged the land hundreds of years ago?" she questioned. Even with the new voice, Dardanel never turned.

"King Rijarl took the land from my family by force," he explained his past. "I'm merely repaying the debt to that man you follow as your royal highness." From his mirror, he watched as a greenish gray dragon burst from the incubator. "This is a two-for-one deal for me and Foltess. I gain the kingdom and he becomes known as the most powerful magician in Ohfun. I did use a few sacrifices. A troll for his rage and destruction, an elf for it's wisdom and longevity and a human for obedience." He was about to get new company from Ash, Gannet, Celcia and Jeanie.

"What exactly are you, some deranged lord or a dog owner?" Ash barked out. Even new personnel failed to jerk Dardanel to peer back. From that mirror, he saw something to make him cringe. The dragon was dissolving. Dardanel's plans were acting the same way. "You'd be surprised what some motor oil and added water can do to even the most prepped recipes." Where did Ash acquire motor oil? From Mike?

"_You_ sabotaged my plan? With some special oil?" Surprisingly effective.

"Was that before or after I had to pee into the solution?" Louie asked...Yuck! Louie, really? That's disgusting. Dardanel became upset at how vile Ash and Louie were.

"Not bad, Louie," Jeanie scoffed. "Now who's gonna run the Magicians' Guild?" Was Master Foltess dead, too? Dardanel decided to get himself going.

"Perhaps I had underestimated all of you," he mulled. "As for the sacrificial human, he did have this in his hand." That's when he revealed a black gauntlet with a ruby embedded under the knuckles. Ash cringed at the sight of the gauntlet. "Along with these magic bracelets, my powers will be magnified." To prove his point, he pushed air and powerful red vibes out at the invaders and blowing almost all back. Ash's aura activated and shielded him from the same blow. "This is interesting. A veil of blue coating the core body. Could this be the aura Foltess discussed?" Ash refused to speak. "No matter." With one leap, Dardanel vanished over the wall and Ash looked over, hoping to spot a dead body. Instead, the bracelets made Dardanel's fall softer. To Ash, his friends needed support. He dashed over to them.

"You guys okay?" he asked in concern. Louie was the first to shake off the shot.

"Just pissed off more," he groaned. After helping Louie up, the Lake Trio emerged which included Azelf. Azelf was still covered in the black markings from Celcia's spell which failed.

"So this is Azelf?" Celcia discovered. "But why is it unaffected by the spell fragments unlike Mesprit and Uxie?" From Ash's still active aura, he could tell that Azelf was busy.

"It's not," he studied. "And I think I know why." What could it be? Meantime, Brock's group, which now had prisoners who were falsely arrested by Dardanel, Isabel's troupe with Lenard and Cynthia's gang with Lily arrived in the throne room. Seeing Lenard back with Isabel, Melissa sighed in relief.

"Lenard, you're okay!" Melissa breathed. Lenard smiled to see Junpei still kicking butt. Isabel saw the group with Brock, Merrill and Airi.

"Are these my father's soldiers incarcerated for insubordination by Dardanel?" he suspected.

"Yeah, they were gonna be executed in the frontline," Brock added when Jakinson spotted Lily by Cynthia and got enraged.

"You!" he roared as he drew his sword. "How dare you show yourself, Traitor!" Brock's group were taken back but before Jakinson swung to cut Lily...CLANK! Ritsuko drew her pistol and used her steel to block his steel. Ever been told not to bring a knife to a gunfight? Well, there's another reason.

"Jakinson, Lily was being manipulated by Dardanel!" Melissa argued. "Her actions were not her own!" Jakinson wanted to relent but kept his sword trained still connected to the 9mm.

"Although, I do deserve some of the blame," Lily admitted. "Lord Dardanel brought up how my late grandfather was killed during a war and told me to avenge his death." Lenard stood forth and approached the young magician.

"Lily, now's not the time to focus on the past," he pointed out. "Instead, why not we all go on a new adventure." She became interested with Lenard's offer. "This adventure involves putting Lord Dardanel into a corner." Lily smiled and nodded to the idea. Suddenly, a quake rocked the castle. Did Mike start attacking the castle?

"What's going on?" Merrill shrieked while clutching her stomach. Did she have a bellyache? Or was she...?

"Lord Dardanel had a device for when all else fails," Lily informed. "That meant something happened not only to his alliance army but his other secret weapon." Ash killed the dragon with motor oil and Mike decimated the rebel army. "He has it stored beneath the castle." Now Junpei took action.

"Then I gotta help Celcia!" he snapped. "She's with the squirt and she's the only one who can get us back home! You guys evacuate to safety!" None of the heroes wanted to leave their friends behind but left with the many imprisoned soldiers, choices were few and far between.

"Be careful and bring Ash back safely," Cynthia warned before she gave the brute a kiss on the cheek. Hey, some love for the muscle of "Those Who Hunt Elves." Humbled, Junpei slightly blushed.

"I will." On that note, he ran off and left Brock steaming jealousy. That's when Uxie popped out striding with the muscle. "You?" Uxie coated Junpei in a veil. Suddenly, the two vanished and reappeared at a darkened hallway. Junpei fell on his backside, trying to wonder why Uxie transported him here. He didn't get a chance to ask because a pair of running footsteps fast approaching. Uxie and Junpei spun to see Ash and Louie, not with the girls despite Gannet's desire to be with him. Azelf, freed from the spell fragments, and Mesprit flew alongside the two. Louie put his finger to his lips, advising Junpei to remain silent. Understanding, Junpei fluffed a nod. "Where's Celcia?" Louie offered to reply.

"The girls are regrouping with the rest," he expressed. "All we need to worry about is Lord Dardanel." With Celcia and the others escaping the castle, possibly to set the stage to return home, all the men had to focus on was stopping Dardanel by all means. They entered a huge room with a weird control panel Dardanel was messing around with.

"For many years, I've searched for the relic to end King Rijarl and reclaim the throne that was taken from my family," he mulled. "The magical resonance recognizes the lineage of the family line." Ash, Louie, Junpei and the Lake Trio reached Dardanel's location.

"You know, Dardanel," Louie voiced. "Maybe there's a reason why your family gave up the throne to King Rijarl." Dardanel ignored Louie and continued to hit keys. To Louie, Dardanel's folks stepped down for unique reasons and handed the throne to Rijarl. Louie decided to get close to repeat his word. "Didn't you hear what I just-" POW! Louie crashed into an invisible wall. That wasn't pretty and the Lake Trio covered themselves from that crash.

"Louie!" Ash called. Louie fell to his knee but wanted to keep going.

"You understand now?" Dardanel sneered. "This magic barrier protects me from any attack from your oversized fist to cannonballs fired from your steel chariot." Ash's active aura saw the blue veil that surrounded Dardanel. Junpei wanted to call his bluff.

"Let's see it take on the six-time martial arts champion!" he roared and charged, much to Dardanel's delight and Ash's concern.

"Junpei, stop!" he yelled but it was too late. Junpei threw a punch and hit the barrier, only to be bounced back across the room. Uxie used it's psychic power to catch and steady Junpei. Junpei nodded to thank Uxie. Now it was Ash's turn.

"If physical attacks don't work, let's try a little aura!" He formed a sphere before shooting it at Dardanel but still he remained undeterred. Reason: the sphere bounced back and struck Ash in the head. Ash was flipped head over heels before landing on his stomach. Azelf flew to Ash in concern.

"Ash!" the other two called in fear of what the outcome jarred. Ash sprung to his knees but coughed and held his throat. Did the rebound injure his neck? Spotting Azelf, he needed to take action.

"Azelf, Teleport!" Ash's voice was back to normal but he was ticked at the situation more than startled about the return of his voice. Azelf tried to teleport into the barrier but the barrier rejected Azelf. Another fail.

"Try all you can but you will never breakthrough my shield," Dardanel taunted. The three refused to throw in the towel. Meanwhile, storm clouds emerged over the castle where everyone else escaped. Mike rolled up after decimating the rebel army. All watched as a giant crystal descended slowly from the heavens. This had to be Dardanel's doing. Was it something from Dardanel's lineage?

"As if ending Cyrus' life wasn't enough to create a monster Ash and I ruined, he brings out a giant crystal?" Gannet blurted. Dawn, Brock and Cynthia gawked at the news that she was _suppose _to keep quiet about. After a few seconds, Gannet turned to the gasping trainers, only to realize her error.

"Cyrus was sacrificed to create a magical creature?" Cynthia correctly guessed. Realizing the cat was out of the bag, she cried to deflect blame. A feeble attempt. The crystal hanging in the sky had Ila plotting its destruction.

"Mike, let's take care of the crystal!" she called. Mike meowed in agreement. "Dawn, only load the vials into the loader!" Dawn bobbed a nod before going back inside as Ritsuko who grabbed binoculars. They're gonna destroy it. To Dardanel, he's sealed the deal.

"With this, I will be king and all the power will be bestowed!" he bellowed. "No one can stop me!" The three others weren't going to stand by.

"Don't bet on it!" Junpei shouted back as he walked with Uxie floating by him.

"We're not giving in!" Ash roared as he walked with Azelf floating alongside.

"It's a power that was sealed and shall remain!" Louie growled as he joined the fight with Mesprit floating by. "Not only does this power not belong to you, the same goes with this country!" He began to punch the barrier as he and Mesprit were glowing blue like Ash did. Mesprit was donating its power to Louie. Dardanel wasn't phased. Now Ash began to swing punches at the barrier. He was glowing like before and so was Azelf. Junpei didn't want to be left out as he joined the punching barrage. He and Uxie were glowing blue, too. The punching tore the gloves from each one's hands. Dardanel laughed.

"My, can this get anymore ridiculous?" he grinned. "Even if those creatures are boosting your energy and your power, it's all to waste. The power of this barrier is impossible to penetrate!" He'd soon eat his words. The power of holding the barrier began to fracture the bracelet and the ruby on the glove added to the demise. "Huh?"

"You forget you're dealing with those who don't believe in the impossible!" Junpei, sweating bullets, bragged as the boys simultaneously fired another punch, further breaking the bracelet and ruby. Dardanel was starting to panic.

"We battle to the end and we're gonna make sure!" Ash, hands bleeding, snarled before another simultaneous punch. Any more and that bracelet and ruby were done.

"And I have a punch reserved for you," Louie, arms weakening, promised before one more set of simultaneous punches. Dardanel was wetting his trousers in fear. "Once more!" The three cocked back their tired arms.

"You don't understand!" Dardanel pleaded but Ash was the first to deny it.

"Of course we do!" he yelled before that last set of punches. The bracelet shattered from the stress and the ruby broke too. The barrier was dissolved. Ash wasted no time in finishing Dardanel who was in disbelief.

"It can't be! I don't believe it!" That's when Ash decked Dardanel in the gut with his bloody fist. That had Dardanel doubling over.

"You don't need to. Once this is over, no one will remember what happened here." Guess he didn't really need that old voice for confidence. Ash delivered a dropkick, propelling Dardanel to... "Junpei!" Junpei smacked a clothesline at Dardanel and nearly flipped him over.

"Louie!" he called before kicking him to the magician.

"Ash, hold him in place!" Louie ordered. Luckily, Ash knew what the call was.

"Azelf, Mesprit, Uxie, use Extrasensory to hold Dardanel!" Ash rang out before the Lake Trio fired beams from their rubies and hitting Dardanel. The beams didn't hurt Dardanel but held him in place for Louie's signature punch. All Dardanel could do was watch.

"Louie Punch!" BAM! Louie scored a direct punch to Dardanel's face flush. Dardanel flew past the others and fell into the pit at the edge. Was this where Louie aimed his punch? Anyway, Dardanel was finished. Outside...

"Fire!" Ritsuko commanded Mike. Mike shot it's ammo which nailed the crystal. Bulls-eye! The contact created an explosion and the crystal shattered into millions of pieces over the castle. The castle was preserved, the rebel army was defeated and peace was in order. Martial Law was lifted hearing the news of Dardanel's treachery. The groups gathered that night in a faraway plain. The adventurers, hunters and trainers were grateful that their assistance provided a victory in the name of justice. However, the time together for most was coming to an end as Celcia and Celecia managed to prepare a large circle with a podium in the center. The priestesses and Lenard's gang also joined in the festivities. Remembering that one of those three Dardanel killed was an innocent female elf, Ash carved a stone which read "UNKNOWN FEMALE ELF."

"Is it alright if I know what you're carving?" Jeanie questioned. Ash just finished the stone and rested it by a tree.

"Besides Cyrus, Dardanel killed a troll and an elf and harvested the organs for his magical creature," Ash confessed as he stood back up. "What kind of mind would destroy life in order to make life?" Jeanie huffed an understandable realization. Still, why remember just the dead elf? Why not the troll or Cyrus? Junpei came forward with Cyrus' glove, ruby missing.

"Hey, Ash!" he called out. Jeanie and Ash turned to the martial artist. "Celcia told me about how you defended her and that priestess from that Cyrus bastard. I did snatch the glove from Dardanel before Louie finished him off. I think you should have the honor of taking care of his item." A nice gesture. Ash didn't want to accept this gift until he knew how to dispose of it.

"I think Team Galactic will get a nasty gift and learn about the fate of their leader while in prison." Junpei huffed a chuckle. Jeanie smiled, ready to drop her accusation against Junpei. Meantime, Cynthia and Airi met with Lenard and Lily. Airi was impressed with the acting between the prince and the young magician.

"You make my Hollywood performances seem like fresh off-the-street acts worthy of a director's glance," she awed. "It takes a lot to fool me and you took all of us for that ride." They did fool a lot of people.

"It was never my intention to fool anyone, not even Priestess Isabel," Lenard confessed. "If I had known about Dardanel's intentions sooner, all of you wouldn't have been involved." Perhaps, but then it wouldn't have helped the hunters and trainers get home soon. Cynthia spotted Celcia with a rather upset look.

"Something wrong, Celcia?" she asked. Celcia was about to drop a heart stopper.

"Well, we have the spell fragments," she started. "But it's a heart reversal spell. That spell would've been useful on Dardanel but it's too late." So now they had a useless spell. What a way to bring down the mood. So now how were they going back? The Lake Trio felt betrayed that the spell fragments were pointless. However, a call from above would answer their pleas for help.

"_**I hear cries for help," **_a voice from the heavens spoke. A cluster of rays of light shone on everyone. Melissa and Isabel stood forth.

"Mylee, God of Battle, is it you?" Melissa addressed while folding her hands in a prayer.

"_**You're one of my sheep, should I be a Shepard. What is your bidding?"**_

"Mylee, God of Battle, two groups of friends wish to return to lands of which they came. Can you grant them a trip back to their homes?" A pause. Would he or won't he?

"_**It's a challenge I cannot ignore. You've served to protect the people of the country, thus I shall grant your desire."**_ A glee lit everyone's faces. Mylee would take the hunters and trainers back home. Pikachu and Piplup were grateful. Merrill was glad that problems were about to be resolved...but when seeing Brock, her heart ached. She didn't want to let Brock go. In an effort to remind Brock not to forget her, Merrill ran up and hugged the breeder.

"Hey, Merrill," he softly spoke. Merrill held onto him, wishing he didn't have to go.

"I wish you could stay here," she whimpered. Brock would want the same. She's been practically the only female that Brock wasn't Poison Jabbed by Croagunk.

"You can come with me and Gannet to our home world." A gesture that Merrill wouldn't pass on...but her head shake said otherwise.

"I still wanna go on adventures with Melissa but I'll always remember you." They shared one final kiss as Ritsuko and Dawn watched. Ash saw the kiss too and with Gannet by his side, he held Gannet's hand in reminder. That's when Ash thought about Gannet's wish to be with him.

"Gannet, why not ask Mylee about coming with me back home?" he pondered. A quick thought but it couldn't hurt.

"Good idea," she agreed before stepping to greet the god. "Mylee, Great God of Battle, hear my desire!" Mylee wasn't ready to hear Gannet, but was ready to surprise her.

"_**A young priestess,"**_ he spoke.**_ "I have heard and witnessed your interactions with the young boy. I know of your desire...and you have fulfilled your duties to earn it." _**Well, so much for asking. Gannet got excited and dashed to hug and tackle Ash. After some final meetings, the hunters and trainers, with Gannet in tow, formed two groups as Louie and his friends watch on. Two beams of light engulfed the groups. For a minute, the lights appeared to dissolve the groups. Finally, the beams fade with no signs of either the Pokémon, the trainers and the hunters. They were back in their worlds.

"They're gone," Jakinson said. "Two groups of warriors...we shall never forget them." Merrill placed a hand on her stomach, a sight Isabel caught.

"You and Sir Brock engaged in a little more than love, huh?" she noted. Merrill nodded.

"I was wondering if you can help with my child when he or she is born," she answered which shocked everyone but Lily.

"You're pregnant?" Louie gawked. Merrill once again said yes. Lily realized that Merrill's love had to be the father. "Who knew that small chest could get pregnant?" Not the remark you wanna make. BONG! And Merrill made sure with a dagger hilt to his skull.

"You need to respect me more, idiot!" The group enjoyed the laugh but Louie was feeling the pain. Anna and Joan could only wonder if Gannet would be okay with Ash. It was thanks to Pokémon trainers, Those Who Hunt Elves and Louie's group, Ohfun was safe. All that laid ahead was the future: one that the adventurers were ready to create.

* * *

_(Elven World)_

During a night back in the elven world, Those Who Hunt Elves, learning that the real spell fragments were really scattered there instead of on the Lake Trio, camped and Junpei stepped outside, still rubbing the same cheek Cynthia kissed. Ritsuko stepped out to see Junpei. "You thinking about Ash?" she wondered. Junpei fluffed a nod.

"Well, he and Cynthia," he corrected. "I'm still finding it hard to believe she'd wind up as my first kiss." Ritsuko mulled at how mesmerized Junpei became because of a simple kiss.

"Lemme guess, you wished it was Miss Airi who would give you that first kiss, right?" Junpei slumped down and stared at the starry sky.

"Well, yeah because she's a Hollywood actress...but I'm not disappointed. I think I could relax for the rest of my life knowing that there was someone who...who had some feeling for me." Interesting words coming out of the muscle of the elf hunters. Ritsuko wasn't sure if Junpei was being serious or if maybe she was drawn to a prank. But the look on Junpei's face told her that Junpei's heart was actually talking and not his muscles. "So tell me." Ritsuko gulped, figuring that Junpei wanted to get to know her better. "Celcia told me about your kiss to Ash. How did that feel?" Ritsuko instantly blushed. She enjoyed that kiss before the priestesses-in-training broke it up.

"I did force the kiss onto him and it wasn't bad." Junpei sighed. He knew that she didn't kiss him honestly.

"So it wasn't a legitimate kiss." Ritsuko frowned. Her kiss was to get Ash talking. Junpei's kiss was real.

"I thought it was."

* * *

_(Volcano, Cinnabar Island, Kanto, Pokémon World)_

Ash, Pikachu and Gannet, wearing a white tank top with a cross decal over the front and jeans but still wore the priestess' beret, entered the volcano with Cyrus' glove. This glove caused all the problems which brought him and his friends to Ohfun. They entered a volcano which had a battlefield hanging by chains. "This is the true symbol of Team Galactic," he murmured as he prayed. "Let it be cleansed in the flames of the earth." He tossed the glove into the lava that burned to dust in seconds.

"That distraction prevented you from winning the conference," Gannet remembered. After seeing the ashes dissolve, Pikachu and the humans stepped out and breathed in the cool air of ocean breezes. Ash chose to discard the glove instead of taunting members of Team Galactic. Gannet bowed her head in a silent prayer. Ash witnessed it, thinking about Anna and Joan.

"Thinking about Anna and Joan? Your friends?"

"Yeah, well...can't I think about them at times?" Ash giggled a little.

"No, if you want, I can pray alongside." Both prayed before moving along the sidewalk of the beach. Suddenly...

"Ash!" sounded...Merrill? The three turned around and sure enough, there she was in a one-piece swimsuit and carrying a little baby girl that had the same hair color.

"Well, this is a surprise." Merrill snickered, happy to be back with some good friends. "Is that your kid?"

"Yeah, she's Luann. She's only a couple of months old." An infant. "Anyway, Ila's dad found a magical item that I wanted to try out which transported me here...and now we're stuck. However, it's actually a good thing." Good thing. "You see, the dad of Luann is Brock." That even got Pikachu shocked and he's the one who normally does that job. Boy, won't Brock get the good news.

"So, you're wondering where Brock is, right?" Gannet asked.

"Yeah, who else to present his new daughter?" It only took a second for Ash to remember where his friend had gone.

"Well, you're in luck," he huffed. "We can escort you two to Pewter City. Not only will Brock be thrilled to see you and his kid, so will his brothers and sisters. Trust me." Merrill decided to take Ash's advice and the group exited the beach on their way to Pewter City. "So, when did you and Brock hook up back in Ohfun?" This was a question Merrill wasn't afraid to answer.

"Back at the Velasquez Street Rumble, after he bailed me out of a dry well." As they leave Cinnabar, Ash could only look toward the future...along with the priestess who her real god guided her to, not Mylee. Three teams, one bonded journey and one story that would be sketched in the history of the heroes...

* * *

THE END


End file.
